Destiny Souchou EXE
by Passionwriter2
Summary: A dark part of Kururu's past resurfaces when the Garuru Platoon is assigned the recovery of a lost project. Kururu, being the only one capable of recovering it has to find a way to destroy it before it kills him, or his comrades.
1. Chapter 1

Destiny: Souchou.EXE

* * *

Disclaimer:

I didn't make Keroro Gunso, I don't own any of the characters.

* * *

For Kururu Souchou it had been a normal day of work. The yellow Keron had been sitting at his computer in his lab collecting and analyzing data on the Hinata's all afternoon, as well as surfing Earth's internet to his pleasure.

"Aki…" he mumbled turning away from his monitor, and sifting through a small stack of papers with lines and lines of binary data, reading it like his own language. It was then Kururu heard a loud explosion erupt from behind him, coming from the entrance of his lab. He jumped with surprise spinning quickly out of his chair and touched down to the floor. "Did I leave the ece-valator on?" he thought panicking as he sprinted in the direction of the explosion, his white lab coat flapping behind him. Turning swiftly around the corner from his over-sized computer Kururu saw immediately the entrance of his lab had been blow to smithereens. Debris covered the ground in a decay of machinery, blackened ash and the stench of smoke and burning metal filled the air. "Who-?" he whispered taking a step back. He stopped for a moment to listen to any signs of life moving within his lab other than him. Hearing nothing he stepped back once more, pressing himself to the wall scanning his surroundings. He needed to arm himself, and his weapons storage was on the other side of his lab. The quickest route to his weapons was back to his computer and take the passage up the other side, going by all his bookshelves. Brushing off a sensation of panic Kururu straightened himself, keeping his cool.

He took two slow steps forward, before taking off again in a sprint to get to his weapons storage. Whoever was in his lab must've meant serious business if they used explosives to destroy his security system's artillery. As he came up to his computer, in the darkness of his lab Kururu felt a hand seize his shoulder. With a force stronger than his momentum running he was thrown to the ground, and a crooked blade put to his throat. In the dim light Kururu saw the faint shadow of a Keron with armor around his left arm and leg. His attackers right eye glowed a machine-like red, scanning Kururu. "Souchou-san…" his attacker said. His voice was zombie like, but also semi-synthetic. It didn't take him very long to figure out who it was. "Lance Corporal Zoruru, of the Garuru Platoon." Kururu said with distaste. Zoruru was a cyborg Keron working for the Keroro Platoon's worst enemy, Garuru. He was a skilled assassin, trained in the arts of the ninja, his past however, Kururu had never taken the time to look into. In terms of hand to hand combat, Zoruru was far more powerful than Kururu, making the current situation a potential threat. "Well, what do you want?" he demanded, annoyed by Zoruru's random appearance and attack.

Zoruru continued to scan him over in silence, ignoring his question. Kururu stiffened, feeling as if Zoruru was getting information from him without him knowing. "ANWSER ME!" he thundered, lifting his left leg to kick Zoruru back. Zoruru had let his guard down and stumbled back giving Kururu time to get up. Once free he darted towards his weapons storage. He had barely made it around the corner when Zoruru stopped him. He stood between Kururu and his weapons storage, how he had gotten there before Kururu, he didn't know. "The least you could do is say something…" he growled backing up. "Souchou-san…" Zoruru said again in a dead tone. "You must….return." Kururu blinked a bit, taking a few steps back. As he was pondering what Zoruru could mean, he was also planning a way to get past him. "Return?" he asked, "You mean to Keron?" his voice was lighter, he wasn't enjoying this unfair battle. He wasn't meant to battle Zoruru, especially without any of his weapons on him, he had been caught at a horrible time.

"The time has come, E.X.E.." as Zoruru spoke Kururu's gaze widened upon him. "I…don't know what you're talking about." He said trying to keep his cool. He knew well what Zoruru had said, though. "Get out of my lab." he spat at the cyborg. "Out!" he raged pointing to the exit. Zoruru said nothing and began moving towards him. Kururu finally panicking turned and sprinted back the way he had come. His heart pounding in his chest, he knew Zoruru would be around every corner and began making random and radical throughout his lab, slowly making his way to the entrance. "Get out of my lab!" he shouted slamming his shoulder into one of the smaller book shelves knocking it over. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder he continued running. Glancing through the cracks in bookshelves he could see Zoruru one moment, but look back and see him missing, it was a game of cat and mouse.

"What do you need me for?!" he demanded knocking over more bookshelves and machinery._ 'Damnit, I need a weapon!'_ he thought furiously. Why wasn't the rest of his security system kicking in? Stopping behind one of the bookshelves he dug into his lab coat pocket only to find the remote to the "Little Policemen" missing. Zoruru must've somehow pick pocketed him. In the moment he was resting Kururu saw Zoruru's shadow looming over him. "Ugh!" he cried running the opposite direction. His energy was draining from all the running. Only a few yards from Zoruru did he stop, realizing that Zoruru hadn't even done anything yet. It was obvious he had come for Kururu, and he was succeeding so far by catching Kururu defenseless. _'Do I really need someone to come save me?'_ It was impossible to fight Zoruru without a weapon, but he'd have to try.

Turning around to face Zoruru, Kururu dropped his left shoulder, letting his lab coat fall before he tore the rest of it off throwing it to the side. He pushed up his glass with two fingers and stood ready to fight him. "No weapons." Kururu said, hoping for a fair fight. If Zoruru could smile then, he probably would have when he let his one blade attached to his left arm be dislodged, and fall to the ground.

"The time has come, E.X.E." Zoruru said in a cocky, bloodthirsty voice. Kururu didn't let himself be intimidated any longer, however, doubt of winning lingered heavily over him. "I'll send you to hell." Kururu growled lowering his head a bit. "COME ON!" He raged taking off, sprinting towards Zoruru and throwing the first punch. His fist stopped on Zoruru's metal plated face, having taken full force from the punch, but being seemingly unaffected. Zoruru lifted his right hand slowly. Kururu anticipating Zoruru's attack jumped back. As he did Zoruru jumped forward and smacked Kururu upside the head sending him back. Kururu landed forcefully and rolled a few feet. _'So much for that.' _he thought. Now aching all over Kururu struggled to stand, but once on his feet Zoruru had closed in on him. Once more he stared into Zoruru's eyes helplessly, hating every bit of it.

"You'll live." Zoruru said. This surprised Kururu, however seeing as Zoruru had lifted his blade after he spoke, Kururu turned away. Zoruru's blade cut deep into his headphones, sending an electrical current into Zoruru's blade and on up into his cyborg arm and head. Zoruru became an electrical light show, the smell of burnt metal, cloth and flesh stinking up the air. Kururu looked away until he heard Zoruru fall to the ground.

Breathing hard Kururu looked back and saw that despite hearing him fall to the ground, he was gone. "W-what…" he breathed falling on his butt but keeping himself upright with his right hand.

"Kururu!" a familiar voice called from the entrance of his lab. Kururu remained where he was, pulling the top off of his damaged headphone feeling around to examine the damage. A red Keron came pounding in, finding Kururu in a matter of seconds. "Kururu are you allright? I heard your shouts from the control room, who attacked you?" Giroro spoke quickly kneeling to Kururu's side. "Zoruru." Kururu replied casually as if Zoruru hadn't got him as panicked as he had. "I fought him off." Giroro looked at him with disbelief. "Why didn't you call anyone? Looks like you two had quite the brawl." Giroro commented rising and offering Kururu a hand since Kururu remained silent. "I can get Natsumi to take a look at your wounds if you want." Giroro suggested helping Kururu to his feet. Kururu only shook his head. "No, it's nothing." he said quickly turning away from Giroro. "You're bleeding."

Kururu jumped at Giroro's observation as he pointed out a blood was creeping down Kururu's left arm and leg. The gashes were deep and Kururu was so suddenly overwhelmed with pain he dropped to his knees, Giroro catching him. The pain surged through him horribly, Kururu thought he'd faint. "H-hang in there. I'll get help." Giroro said reaching into his belt pulling out a small communication device. "Tamama, you there? I'm with Kururu." he said to the device. Tamama's chirpy voice came through the receiver within a few seconds. "Tamama here!"

Giroro kneeled down to Kururu putting him over his right shoulder. "Kururu's badly injured. Call Natsumi, have her meet me pronto." he said quickly. With that said he put the device back into his belt, not waiting for a reply from Tamama. "Use your right leg to help me walk you out of here." he said to Kururu. Paralyzed by pain Kururu did not respond to him, forcing Giroro to slowly drag him, blood trailing behind them on the floor.

Giroro and Kururu had made it out of the lab and down the first corridor when they caught sight of Natsumi and Tamama. "Kururu!" she cried out running towards the two. Natsumi Hinata, a human of the Hinata residence. Kururu knew quite a lot about her, even more than was naturally acceptable. However that was unimportant at the time._ 'I can't stand this…' _Kururu thought remaining unresponsive as Natsumi lifted him carefully into her arms, wrapping him in a towel since he was still bleeding. Giroro's voice rang through his ears, "Kururu, hold on! You'll be alright!" Kururu then blacked out.

* * *

AN- I find the new rules kinda funny... Erm anyway, I did some proofing, but It's probably not perfect. If I get some reviews on this I'll post up more. Sorry this is short, next chapter is a lot longer. Kururu can be such a hard character to write about...


	2. Chapter 2

Destiny: Souchou.EXE

Chapter 2

* * *

Morning was breaking through the window, light spilling onto Kururu's face, warming him. As he stirred he felt a soft cushion under him, apparently not the rope of his hammack in his lab. Kururu's eyes opened slowly revealing a blurry surroundings. "My glasses…" he said. He surprised himself, his voice being weak and airy as if he hadn't spoken in days, or laughed. He glanced around, knowing that he was in someone's bedroom and felt too lazy to sit up. Instead he laid in whatever bed he was in and stared out the window, for whatever reason enjoying the warmth of the morning sun. As he was taking his time waking he recalled the events of the night before.

_"The time has come, E.X.E."_

Zoruru's voice rang through his mind, echoing a name that he had so long since forgotten. "Kururu! You're awake!" said a familiar voice. Kururu turned his head over towards the door seeing a blue and gray figure walk over towards him, something white in his hands. It was Saburo, from which he could tell by the sound of his voice. A small smile crept across Kururu's face, a bit relieved to see that Saburo had come to visit, since they didn't see each other that often. "Feeling better?" Saburo asked sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Do you know where my glasses are?" he asked. Saburo gave a small chuckle reaching out his hand towards Kururu. "Here." Pleased, Kururu took his glasses out of Saburo's hands and slipped them onto his face, pushing them up with two fingers. "You gave everyone quite the scare Kururu, you've been out for three days." Kururu looked up at Saburo surprised upon hearing the news._ 'Three days? How did I manage that…'_ he thought completely puzzled. "Dororo said you were poisoned, but not severly. I was worried." Partially ignoring what Saburo was saying Kururu looked around the room noticing he was in Aki's room._ 'Hm…' _he thought wondering why they kept him in her room instead of in the underground base. That's when he remembered he was attacked in the underground base.

"So what's bothering you?" Saburo asked him. Kururu blinked at him again, surprised at him. "I had thought the Garuru platoon was defeated. I don't understand why I was attacked. I do not like it." he said. Saburo didn't know what to say to that, considering he had fought with Zoruru himself once before, and knew well he was a formidable opponent. "Want me to take you down to your lab? Maybe we can find some clues." he offered thinking of something at last. Kururu considered it for a moment, and figured after what had happened to Zoruru, he was pretty much safe. Zoruru and Garuru were the strongest of the Garuru platoon, and if he could single-handedly ward of Zoruru, then he'd be fine with Saburo as long as he had his reality pen.

"Sure." he said pushing himself up. A small sting of pain ran up the outside of his arm as he got up. Kururu flinched and looked down to see that his left arm and leg were coated in bandages, and also a few were wrapped around his midsection. "Uhrm…" he coughed looking over the dressings horrified. He hated being injured, he hated the idea that he was cut, he hated everything about bandages and being weak. "Don't worry about it, I'll be gentle." Saburo said putting his hands under Kururu's arms and lifting him up before setting him on his shoulders. The transfer didn't hurt much, but it bothered Kururu quite a bit, the only reason he didn't say anything was because it was Saburo.

"Where's Aki?" he asked as they left the room and ventured out into the Hinata house. "She's been at work for the past few nights. I think she came home once, but she didn't stay long. She said she was sorry to here you were injured and hoped for a swift recovery. Also she insisted we kept you in her room, she said it's a nice place for when people are recovering." Kururu was unimpressed by Saburo's explanation but remained silent as he walked down the stairs into the living room. Natsumi and Fuyuki were no where to be found. "They're out shopping," Saburo said randomly knowing what Kururu was thinking. "I think Giroro, and Dororo are trying to get into contact with headquarters, Tamama is at Nishisawa's and I don't know where Keroro is." he continued to explain as he kneeled down to open up the secret compartment that had a ladder leading down the Keroro's room.

"You talk too much." Kururu said plainly. Saburo chuckled at his comment, sliding down the ladder. "Well, it's just in case you were wondering." he added. Opening the door to Keroro's room the two slipped inside and entered the underground base. Once at the base Saburo stepped onto the self-moving tiles that took off down the long hallways. "No one's been in your lab since you were attacked, so everything should still be there." Saburo said later as they began approaching Kururu's lab.

Although pleased to be back in the base, Kururu felt a looming insecurity. Zoruru had somehow snuck into the base undetected. Though after thinking about it, Dororo snuck into the base all the time. But Dororo wouldn't activate the security systems like Zoruru would upon entering. How he had gotten into Kururu's lab and set off an explosion, without anyone but him hearing since Giroro hadn't come until Kururu had begun shouting was a huge problem, to which Kururu had no clue. _'What's even more puzzling, is how Zoruru knows about E.X.E…' _he thought rubbing the side of his head.

"You alright?" Saburo said when Kururu shifted uncomfortably on his shoulders. Kururu said nothing as they entered the lab. "Think you can walk?" Saburo asked. "Yes." he answered, and Saburo slipped him off his shoulders placing him gently on the ground. First off Kururu scanned the debris of the explosion. He had blown up his lab once before, but the debris was scattered all over the place, the aftermath of Zoruru's entrance was all piled in one spot. "Are you sure no one's been in my lab?" he asked Saburo wondering if maybe someone had come back to clean up. Saburo nodded and Kururu didn't ask for anymore more information.

As Kururu moved through his lab with the help of Saburo, they observed together the spot where Kururu had knocked over the book shelves. Papers, books, CD's and DVD's were scattered everywhere, a mess Kururu didn't feel like cleaning up later._ 'I'll just blackmail Tamama into cleaning for me…' _he thought on a whim. Then they proceeded to where Zoruru had fallen. As they came upon Saburo pointed ahead. "Hey, there's something over there." picked Kururu up and rushed over to where he had pointed. On the ground, besides a few spots of dried blood, a small slip of paper remained. It was burnt around the edges, and splattered with blood, but the message was still readable. Saburo handed it to Kururu to read.

"Denying destiny is denying life. Do, or die. E.X.E" he said as he read the message aloud. "Do or die? What's E.X.E?" Saburo asked looking at Kururu. Kururu didn't answer, but rather kept his eyes on the message. A bad omen stirred inside him, he knew this was much more serious than when the Garuru had first attacked them, and even then it had been close. But this time, they wanted him, and no one else. "Let's go." Kururu said quickly turning to Saburo. Saburo said nothing as he lifted Kururu to his shoulders once more and they left the lab.

Once back upstairs he spent the rest of the day in Keroro's room. Saburo had gone home already, and everyone else was still gone. Over the span of three days, Kururu's inbox had nearly filled and he hadn't been able to do any hacking. Annoyed with his downtime, Kururu began catching up.

It would be late in the evening when Giroro and Dororo appeared in Keroro's room, originally heading for the base. "Kururu?" they gasped in surprise upon seeing him. "You're awake!" Dororo cried in surprise. The two ran over to him, for whatever reason surprised by Kururu's recovery.

"I told you it was nothing. I'm fine." he saying paying them little attention, focusing on his work. "But it wasn't nothing!" Dororo protested. Giroro waved a hand at Dororo to silence him. "So how are you feeling?" he asked casually. "It's none of your business." Kururu replied mimicking Giroro's tone. Giroro chuckled a bit, knowing Kururu must feel just fine if he could be a smartass.

"Right then." Giroro then nodded to Dororo and the two left. They opened the door to the base when Kururu stopped them. "Where's Keroro?" he asked only slightly looking up from his computer. He hadn't been in his lab since he went down there with Saburo, and was unable to track Keroro with just a standard laptop. "Think he's hunting for a specific Gunpla model with Fuyuki. He should be home by tonight." Giroro answered before the two disappeared.

One they were gone, Kururu wondered why he didn't just go down to his lab and begin fixing it up. He wondered why he didn't like the idea of going into the base alone. Even if Dororo and Giroro were down there, Giroro and Tamama had been down there when he was attacked…

He wiped the thoughts from his mind and rose from his computer stubbornly. _'I don't care. Next time I'll…'_ Once again hitting a blank in his mind. Kururu stopped himself from sounding as if he would be attacked again. He was uncertain on a lot of things, and he'd need to collect data if he wanted answers. Besides, that was his job.

It was a slow and painful trip back to his lab without Saburo, but once he arrived back in his lab he was surprised to find Giroro already there. "What are you doing?" he asked severely annoyed. Hearing the annoyance in his voice Giroro looked up form the pile of papers he had been picking up. "Just cleaning." he muttered shifting through some papers. "Like hell." Kururu growled angrily. "What did you find out?" he demanded pacing a bit closer to Giroro. Giroro looked up at him surprised. "You weren't attacked by Zoruru. It was a copy of him. Remember the puppets we made? It was something like that, only much more advanced." Giroro reported before turning back to his papers.

"That doesn't explain why the security system failed." Kururu said. However Giroro seemed to have had an answer for that. "It does. Only machines can be teleported using one of the latest transport technologies produced by the Keron army. I forget it's name but, I'm sure you could find out later. Anyway, it teleported the copy directly outside your lab, and he blew open the door." That was a few answers._ 'After the puppet died they must have teleported it out.'_ Kururu thought pressingly. "Also, the puppet ran off with all of your weapons in your storage. I'll bring more up later from our weapons bay." Kururu's fist clenched at the news he was not only attacked but also robbed. "Any reason why the Garuru platoon wanted to attack me?" Kururu asked, this being his final question. Giroro looked up at him to answer when another voice spoke up amongst them.

"E.X.E,"

Giroro jumped up and Kururu turned around to see Garuru standing not far from them, heavily armed. Kururu glared it him, knowing the two of them could take him out. "KUUUU-KU-KU-KU!" He laughed. Giroro whipped out his usual gun and handed a smaller one to Kururu. Pleased he was armed this time Kururu pointed the weapon at Garuru. "I'm sorry, but this time I'm no puppet." Garuru said with a smile as Zoruru appeared from the shadows beside him. "And we're not going to go easy on you either!" cried out Dororo's voice as he too appeared from the shadows. "Dororo!" Zoruru cried out. He took a step forward his blade appearing, however Garuru halted him. "Our target is Souchou-san." he commanded sternly.

Kururu still expected that three on two would be enough. However, it was then Taruru and Tororo also appeared. "PUUUU-PU-PU-PU-PUUUU!" Tororo laughed loudly holding out a larger weapon than Kururu's. Kururu felt a fire light up inside him upon seeing Tororo. How he wanted so badly to pound his face into the ground again. Giroro turned to him, sweat running down his face. "Kururu, get to your computer. Summon your artillery-," he began. "Don't bother!" Taruru cried out in a cocky voice. "All of your artillery is now under the property of the Space Garbage Disposal." Garuru announced. "It's checkmate."

"We're not playing a game!" Giroro thundered, falling to one knee and engaing in combat. Kururu took to his side and also began firing at where Tororo was. Dororo took off, and with Zoruru mimicking him, the two collided. When Giroro called a cease fire, the smoke cleared revealing everyone except Zoruru unharmed, and not having moved an inch.

"Oh! Oh! It's my turn!" Taruru cried out happily. Giroro anticipating the move grabbed Kururu and ran off deeper into his lab as Taruru released his attack, a blast that incinerated everything in it's path and deeply injured Kerons. Garuru, Taruru and Tororo followed them, blasting and firing away as they fled through the lab, the two occasionally shooting back. "Where the hell is Keroro?!" Kururu growled as they came to his computer. Kururu saw in horror that his computer was up in flames, the screen destroyed and the hardware gone.

"Kururu, you have to escape. Find Keroro and Tamama!" Kururu looked up at Giroro as he pointed to a small crevice in the wall that would allow only one of them to escape. "Hurry, you hav-!" Giroro cut himself off as his body stiffened. Kururu looked at him when he saw something protruding from his back. Giroro fell to the ground, a poisoned dart having hit him. "Shit…" Kururu breathed picking up Giroro's gun. It was just a stun dart from what he could tell, Giroro would wake up later. But that left him without cover.

In the midsts of the firing Garuru had broken from the others, and surprised Kururu by closing in on him after Giroro had fallen. Kururu fired away at Garuru, who dodged his every move until he was close enough to Kururu to grab the edge of his gun and rip it from his hands. He pushed Kururu forcefully to the ground. Zoruru appearing behind him blocking him off from his escape. Kururu glanced around frantically when he saw Dororo also on the floor downed by a dart.

"You have two choices, Souchou-san. Surrender or fall. Either way, you're coming with us. Resistance is futile." Garuru said grimly. As a last ditch effort Kururu threw a punch into Garuru's left eye, cracking his glasses and broke off in a run. Tororo jumped in front of him, however Kururu grabbed him and threw him at Taruru who was close behind him, knocking the two to the ground. "Pointless." Zoruru growled bounding after him.

At this point Kururu had forgotten about his injuries and was set on escaping from his lab once more. Zoruru jumped at him, and Kururu jumped away, sprinting for the exit. 'I can make it!' he thought desperately. A dark figure stood at the doorway. He stopped short, and would admit he had never been so happy to see Keroro before. "Gunso!" He yelled out running towards him. As he approached Keroro he realized something was wrong with him. His star was missing from his chest and head. 'A puppet?!' Kururu thought. The puppet lifted it's hand revealing three poisoned darts. Kururu charged the puppet falling to the ground his right leg out to trip it. His slide stopped short of the puppet, and it leaned forward, stabbing him with one of the darts.

Kururu felt himself going numb all over immediately after being stabbed, his head falling back onto the ground. He was losing consciousness when he saw all of the Garuru Platoon coming for him.

* * *

"Hey! Garuru, I think he's awake!" Pururu's voice ran through his head as Kururu was slowly waking up. However, it wasn't in the type of conditions he had had the last time he woke up. "Ugh…" His head was pounding, as if he had been up all night drinking.

"Hey, hey! Don't move yet!" Kururu opened his eyes to see his glasses once again had been removed. But to his dismay, he had no hope of Saburo coming to deliver them. A pink figure was looming over him, and he couldn't move his arms or legs. "I told them to be gentle with you, I guess gentle means 'Beat the living hell outta me please.'," Pururu joked. As Kururu looked at his surroundings he was in a small one room laboratory, strapped down to a cushioned table. The only thing he was free to move was his head. "Can I have my glasses?" he asked in Pururu's direction. Pururu's pink figure looked at him before turning away. "What?" he asked, his blurry gaze narrowing at her. "Nothing," she said, though her voice was clearly masking something. Rolling his eyes Kururu waited until she placed his glasses on his face. Now able to see he could make out the details of what Pururu was doing. She had changed his bandages and added more to him. Kururu let his head fall back upon the table, and let out an annoyed sigh. Under his glasses he closed his eyes, his head swimming. "Where are we?" he asked without motioning towards Pururu.

He heard Pururu rummage through a bunch of tools before she answered. "We're in Keron's orbit. The others just now went down to pick up supplies." she answered dryly. Kururu found it ironic he was a prisoner amongst his own kind, and so far had committed no crime. Also that he was so close, yet so far from home.

"Ugh, you must eat a lot of curry…" Pururu complained holding a few papers as she looked at the data they had. Kururu smirked at the comment, thinking of his last meal of curry. "I make a mean curry." he said slyly. Pururu smirked at him. "Do you now? I'll have to try some of it sometime." she chuckled turning away from him and to more of her papers spread out on the counter.

"Shouldn't you be on pekopon, Pururu?" Kururu asked, a bit surprised that she was once again with the Garuru Platoon. "It's too hot on earth. Garuru promised to take me to a colder planet if I helped him with this project." she said dreaming of a wintery vacation as she spoke. The two then lingered in silence until Pururu walked out of the lab, the two doors closing behind her; she had left without a word to Kururu. _'So what to do now…?'_ Kururu wondered lifting his head and looking over at the door Pururu had left.

"PUUUU-PU-PU-PU-PU-PUUUU!!" Kururu smirked upon hearing the semi-familiar outburst on the other side of him. Kururu turned his head to see Tororo in the other doorway glaring at him smiling wide with a soda pop in his hand. "Pu-pu-pu!" Kururu knew full well that he had come to gloat about his defeat, he eyed Tororo, daring him to speak. At one point Tororo had stopped laughing and the two were in silence, exchanging daring looks.

"Humbled by my presence?" Kururu said at last. "You wish!" Tororo cried out in response nearly dropping his soda. "You're just sour that we got you! And now you're helpless!" Kururu felt surprised that once Tororo had finally gotten what he wanted, he obviously didn't know what to say or do with himself. "Give me two paper clips and we'll see just how helpless I am." Kururu said with a grin. "If I recall correctly you did very little during our skirmish. Making useless of yourself-"

"Oh yeah!? I made the puppet! And you fell right for it!" Tororo cried out again defending himself. "So you made that piece of junk? I could tell it wasn't Keroro from a mile away, you left out Keroro's star, idiot." Kururu commented as if he wasn't taking Tororo very seriously. "I'm assuming that it was Zoruru, that put together the darts, and NOT you." Tororo fell silent, glaring at Kururu with a deathly stare. "Oh did I touch a nerve? Did I make the little annoying thing mad?" he taunted.

In one swift movement Tororo snatched a scalpel from the counter and put it to Kururu's throat. "Shut your mouth. You're our prisoner, I can't kill you, but I can make this trip hell." he whispered his voice wanting blood. Kururu had been caught by surprise as he remember that he indeed WAS strapped down to a table, and until he found means of escape, was rendered helpless. "I'm not like Pururu and the others. They follow orders too well. Once we're done using you, I'll see to it myself you are disposed of." It was then Kururu realized just how much he had tortured Tororo, and how much he seriously hated him. Normally, Kururu wouldn't have cared, but normally he'd have been in his lab easily warding off his hacks. He hadn't met the kid face to face before, or at least, not like this. It was now that Tororo was an actual threat to him. Tororo glared into Kururu only to be furtherly displeased that Kururu showed no change in himself from his threats.

"TORORO!" Pururu's voice cried from the other side of the lab. "You idiot! Get away from him!" she shouted, rushing over to him and ripping the scalpel from his hands. She smacked him over the head, and pushed him out of her lab, Tororo yelling his innocence the whole way. Once he was gone Kururu relaxed, not liking the idea of what had just happened. "You shouldn't let someone as insecure as him into your lab." he commented as she locked the door behind Tororo. But Pururu simply shrugged.

"Anyway, I have to get you prepared. Now that you're awake I have to transfer you to your temporary living quarters." she said. Kururu gave her a mean look before raising his voice at her. "Pururu!" She stopped what she was doing and looked over at him. Kururu hated terribly what he was about to say. "Un-strap me" he said dryly. Pururu smiled warmly. "Now, now, Souchou-san," she began walking over to him, resting her hands on the table. "You know who I work for, and you know I can't do that. Try not to worry. Ok?" Kururu glared at her, furious at her pity, but it was no use arguing with her.

Pururu cleaned up her lab putting all her dangerous tools into locked doors and cabinets, once she was finished she pulled out a pair of keys and turned back to Kururu. "You're gonna hate this, but, it's Garuru's orders." she said with a sigh pulling out a small collar and fitting it snuggly around his neck. Kururu didn't really mind the collar, he knew that Garuru ordered it because he wouldn't underestimate Kururu, but when he noticed it bore Tororo's symbol he struggled. "Don't-take it off-!" he gasped turning away from Pururu as she locked it onto him. After she had finished she slowly began un-strapping Kururu. As soon as his right hand was free he tore away at the collar. "If you try to fight it it'll bite you." Pururu commented as she continued to slowly free him. "There now come with me-" she had begun until Kururu pushed her over jumping from the table. He burst out the doors from her lab entering a dim hallway. He guessed he was still inside Garuru's ship since they were in orbit, meaning he could escape through an escape pod. He sprinted to the doors throwing them open, only to enter another hallways with a bunch of other doors. Seeing a sign for the docking bay he took a left. As he went through two more hallways the alarm went off. He stopped a moment, looking up as all the lights began to blink red and multiple cameras came out staring at him.

As disregarded the alarms and pushed through the last doors entering the docking bay. One rows of small escape lined the docking bay. Kururu was quick to jump into one, hacking past it's security in seconds. However, once inside he noticed the alarm was activating a lock down. He started up his escape pod when the docking bay door began to close from the outside. _'I can make it.' _he told himself when he got the pod into the air and took off.

The door came pounding down just before his pod could get through. Kururu backed up knowing he was going to have to do some damage now. He fired one of the three missiles his ship had blowing the door open. He drove his pod into the welcoming outer space and sped off. However once outside he turned his ship, having planned to land on Keron when he saw that they were no where near Keron. They were in the middle of an asteriod belt._ 'So where were they getting supplies from?'_ Kururu wondered surprised that no one had tried to stop him from escaping. To Kururu's dismay he had little idea where he was in space, but he figured he'd wander until he found a planet to land on and make contact back to Pekopon. He was quick to come up with a plan, and he drove away from the Garuru Platoon's ship.

In silence Kururu dodged asteroids and rogue stars flying through the belt swiftly. He checked his radar only to find that the asteroids continued for miles and miles. Kururu stayed behind the controls for hours till he felt safe that he had left the Platoon's ship far behind. He picked the largest asteroid he could find and landed inside one of it's many deeps holes.

Kururu felt weak getting up from the driver's seat. He checked his bandages noticing him left arm was bleeding still. 'I must've reopened it when I escaped.' He found a space suit in a small compartment of the pod and put it on before stepping outside onto the asteroids hard rocky surface._ 'I got away too easily…'_ he thought in reminisce of his escape. He then remembered the collar Pururu had given him. His fingers lightly ran over it's cool metal, his sense of escape and the security of being lost in space dropping. He sat down not far from his ship, in a spot amongst the asteroid to where a distant star shined like the sun. He sighed frustrated knowing that his escape pod wasn't meant to travel as far as it had. _'They're going to find me…'_ Kururu thought.

Quickly he scrambled back to the pod, trying to find some sort of mirror and anything he could scavenge to break the collar. Although he found a screwdriver and a hammer in a small tool kit they were much too large for his use and he couldn't find a mirror anywhere. Furious of his lack of tools Kururu had managed to scratch off Pururu's symbol before he gave up on it. _'Everytime they get me, I'm without resource…' _Kururu thought feeling unbarably annoyed. He guessed that Garuru thought of his way of keeping him from escaping would be to cut off his resources. That's why they stole his weapons and burned his computer. No one back on pekopon would be able to get any information from his files now, nor arm themselves with his best inventions. "Giroro…what would you have done…?" he whispered, wondering if Giroro was in his position, if he would've done something different.

Kururu sat outside his ship once more when they came. Kururu's collar had begun beeping when they landed on the asteroid. Garuru stepping outside in his own special suit approached him, armed with a gun as usual. "You've caused enough trouble. Are you ready to go?" he asked knowing Kururu was out of luck.

Kururu couldn't bring himself to admit defeat, in so he didn't look up to meet Garuru's eyes, but rather stared at theround he shadowed, enjoying the last of his false freedom. "What do you want E.X.E for?" Kururu asked in a low tone. Garuru gave him a surprised look. "We need it to invade earth. With the Keroro Platoon lacking you, and with E.X.E, we can dominate earth in a matter of days. E.X.E will become property of the Keron Army, my Platoon alone will receive the rewards for it's recovery." Garuru explained dryly. "We need you to get it, and operate it for us." he finished. Kururu only shook his head. "I put it away for a reason." he commented standing. "I will not help you." he said, finally meeting Garuru's gaze. Garuru shook his head as Kururu did. "I'm afraid you have no choice, Souchou-san." Kururu eyed him suspiciously. Besides his own life, Kururu had nothing else to lose, at least, that's all he could think of._ 'They'll probably kill me once they're finished with me anyway…'_ Kururu thought dismissively. Garuru held up a small remote pressing the button that also had Tororo's symbol on it. A small holographic screen showed up with a camera view of Dororo and Giroro trapped within a single white room. "Do you care about them? They are your comrades after all." Garuru asked, a darkened smirk crossing his lips. "So you WOULD kill your own brother?" Kururu growled. "His life is worth E.X.E. He'd be but a mere sacrifice for your cooperation." Kururu still wouldn't believe him. "The Keron Army would never permit this." he threw back at him, persisting to call out his bluff.

"I will do whatever it takes to succeed. I know exactly what happened when E.X.E was sealed away. You disobeyed orders and sent the project to the darkest galaxy in space. Placing a seal upon it that no one could crack except you. I knew fully well that even if Headquarters demanded you bring E.X.E. back, you'd rather give up your position then go through with it. That is why I have gone to these extremes. And I can assure you, it was no easy feat to set up your kidnapping." Garuru said quickly. "So, do we have a deal?"

Kururu's shoulders slumped in defeat. Garuru had him, because he had Giroro. "Let Zeroro go, I don't care about him. He doesn't deserve to be kept if he's of no use to you." Kururu said walking past Garuru. Garuru simply shrugged lifting his remote to his mouth pressing a hidden button the side. "Kill the blue one." he said into it. Kururu jumped, turning back to Garuru. "No!" he cried. "I said let him go!" Garuru glared at him with a smile, "Cancel that." he said into the receiver before placing in into the pocket of his suit. "I do wonder what Keroro would say if you killed his childhood friend." Kururu's fist clenched as anger swelled within him, internally he swore vengeance on Garuru.

He followed Garuru back onto the ship where they met up with Zoruru and Taruru. They placed him in cuffs and led him deep into the ship. Kururu said nothing as they moved about, his thoughts were on Giroro. He was amazed that Garuru had known that Giroro was probably the only thing he cared about in his life. He swore to himself he'd sacrifice his own life for E.X.E, but not Giroro's. At the same time, the repercussions for bringing E.X.E. back plagued him.

"You'll be here for now. I'll come back later with some curry for you." Taruru said happily. Kururu looked up seeing a white door with white bars upon is in front of them. Zoruru pulled out a key and unlocked it. The two removed his cuffs, but locked him within the room. When they were gone Kururu was beside himself. "E.X.E…." he whispered sitting in a corner of the white room.

"People died that day."

Kururu looked up as the door to his cell opened and Tororo entered. "Hm?" he grunted at the smaller keronian. "The day you sealed E.X.E. away. Four scientists died. You killed them." he said his voice reeking with mystery. "I warned them." Kururu said casually. "I saved more lives by sealing away E.X.E., you've no idea, baka."

"Liar!" Tororo protested, however to Kururu's surprise, Tororo plopped down in front of him, and pulled out a small paper bag. Inside were two donuts, and offered on to Kururu. "I want to know what E.X.E. is, and I want to know what happened." he said clearly stating his desires. Kururu sighed at him, waving the donut away. "I don't like to talk about it. Leave." he said raising a hand from his knee pointing lazily at the door.

"Tell me!" Tororo persisted. "I've no desire to help you." Kururu growled now glaring at the boy. "Pu-pu! What if I said, If you tell me everything you know, and teach me how to use E.X.E. that I'll find a way to get your comrades released?" Tororo offered. Kururu considered his offer for only a moment before he shook his head. "Only I can use E.X.E., you'd have to know what it is to understand why." Tororo frowned at him. "Puu-pu-pu! Tell me or I'll eat your curry!"

Kururu lifted his hand slightly and reached out seizing Tororo and holding him up off the ground. "If you want to know, why not ask your damn leader?!" he thundered furious with Tororo's idiotic threats. "B-but…" Tororo choked. "H-he won't tell me!" he cried out, his feet dangling in the air. "Earlier you were threatening to kill me, and now you want information? Don't you think that's a bit stupid?" he taunted Tororo throwing him down before him. "You've little idea what took place that day. And I will tell no one, even if it kills me."

"What if it kills Giroro?" Tororo asked shaking all over. "Shut up." Kururu barked, grabbing Tororo again and pinning him to a wall. "Now who's helpless?" he said slyly feeling Tororo's fear. "You've really pissed me off, more than once. You should know better than that." he continued. "Kuuuu-ku-ku-ku! I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget, shrimp."

"Put him down, Kururu." A familiar voice said casually. Kururu looked over at the entrance to see Giroro and Dororo staring at him. "He's not worth it right now." Giroro added. Kururu dropped Tororo turning towards the two. Tororo scrambled on the floor before snatching up his donuts and bolting from the room. Kururu watched him leave, satisfied with himself for the moment. Giroro and Kururu exchanged glances for a moment upon seeing each other again. "Giroro…" Kururu began, feeling a bit mixed up. But he really didn't know what to say or try and explain. "As much as I hate being my brother's captive, now is no time to panic. We'll find a way out of here." Giroro announced. Dororo however remained silent.

Giroro gave Kururu one long, hard look before he spoke up. "So, tell me, what is Project E.X.E.?"

* * *

An- This chapter is a lot longer than one. But also has A LOT more action. You guys surprised me with the reviews. I really wasn't expecting any, but, thanks, I appreitate it. I'm kinda unsatisfied with this fic. Seeing as i made up everything on a whim and the reason the story probably won't be as long as if could be is because I'm including so much action. Chapter 3 is a bit of an exception though. Again, if i continue to get reviews I'll continue to post V.V;


	3. Chapter 3

Destiny:Souchou.EXE

Chapter 3

* * *

"A bio weapon of mass destruction." said Kururu crossing his arms as Giroro and Dororo gasped at his answer. "It rips matter apart, atom by atom, and could destroy whole galaxies, and everything in them within two seconds." he continued. "I sealed it away because it was too powerful to wield, and also because it feeds off of lifeforce."

"So is that how the four scientists died?" Dororo asked having observed what Tororo had said. Kururu gave him a bland look before replying, "Not quite." Dororo turned his head at bit, knowing Kururu had more information. "Project E.X.E. was never really meant to be discovered, in fact, the group of scientists I was working with were originally sent to investigate a virus that was developing on another planet. We happened upon an abandoned ship on the way, and stopped to scavenge the ship and find out perhaps who it belonged to. The ship was full of dead bodies of aliens all over space. When we searched for a cause of all the death, we found E.X.E.," he began. Dororo and Giroro listened to him intently, at awe and disgust of the circumstances in which E.X.E was discovered. Kururu subconsciously put his left hand to his right elbow, as if ashamed or embarrased of what he was about to explain. "If you can imagine the universe, as large and endless as it may seem, divided in two halves, one light and one dark. What would be inside either side?" he asked looking at Giroro.

"Light and Dark?…the universe?" he repeated Kururu's words as if he had little idea what they meant. "Stars, Gas planets, energy sources that give off heat and light, would be on the light side, planets, asteroids, inanimate solid masses would be on the dark side. Understand? The light side would have all the raw energy needed to destroy the dark side, and since the light side's energy would be used up in the process, that would mean total destruction of everything. E.X.E. can do that, if it has a proper _host_." Kururu said, his head lowered when he finished. The weight of what Garuru was forcing Kururu into began taking it's toll on the yellow keronian. He began to wonder if he would succumb to actually fearing something for the first time in his life. Could a devil really be afraid?

Giroro and Dororo were rendered speechless at Kururu's explanation. "So then, what happened the day you sealed it away?" Dororo asked breaking the silence. Kururu shook his head, the memories flooding back to him. "We took E.X.E. into Keron's orbit, keeping it safely isolated within the ship we found it in, and removed all the bodies. We studied E.X.E. for eight days, finding out something new about it every day. Until headquarters ordered us to turn it over to be used as a weapon. When we tried to reason with them with the data we had collected, Headquarters didn't seem to care, they saw E.X.E. as a miracle weapon to be used in warfare. The five of us saw it as an unholy creation made by the universe itself as a means of self-destruction. The day headquarters' ordered us to find a host for it was the day I decided I would seal it away. Rozuzu, Miyiyi, Heruru, Hiroro and myself were the ones working on Project E.X.E.," Kururu took a pause at that point. A vivid imagine of him and his team standing in the ship that held E.X.E., he then had not expected what would take place, nor did he expect things to go smoothly.

* * *

Rozuzu and the team were setting up on it's transport to Keron, storing it in the strongest metal in the universe, raritanium, also the only metal that had no present magnetic energy inside of it. "Kururu, can you help me out with this?" he heard Rozuzu ask him from behind his huge desk stacked nearly roof high with papers. Kururu came over to him, his computer had a security program on it. "I'm trying to make a security system for it. I'll install this device onto the outside, that way headquarters can store it without fear of any unauthorized personal getting into it." he said happily. Kururu and Rozuzu spent hours and hours on end setting up the security program filled with identity locks as well as coded locks, and at the end of the night, the five of them were the only ones with access to E.X.E. Kururu didn't mind deceiving them on what his true intentions of E.X.E. were. He wasn't really the hero type to be protecting anyone from anything, but even Kururu knew when something was too dangerous, or too massive to be in the hands of mortals. _'It shouldn't be in anyone's hands. Only the universes.' _he had thought.

When morning came two men from headquarters' appeared to pick up the Project. When they came banging on the door of the ship everyone lined up to give the men a proper greeting, all except Kururu. He remained in the back of the lab with E.X.E. he was suppose to put the finishing touches on the security, he drilled halfway into the metal screwing the small metal guard on it when Rozuzu burst into the room. "Kururu! Hurry up! The men are here." Kururu didn't acknowledge him though. "Kururu?"

Rozuzu placed a hand on his shoulder pulling him away from his work. "You can finish that up in a minute, we have to welcome the soldiers…" Rozuzu cut himself off seeing that Kururu had installed a small rocket to E.X.E. "Kururu what the hell…" he growled at him shoving away from the project. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he shouted. Miyiyi, Heruru and Hiroro burst into the lab room after hearing him shout. As they did Rozuzu turned to them. "Miyiyi run the override!" he ordered taking E.X.E. into his hands kicking Kururu away from him.

"Wait! Don't touch it! I'm not finished!" Kururu shouted as Rozuzu tore at the rocket. He ripped it off pulling the screws out with brute force and creating a hole in the metal box E.X.E. was in. "Like hell you're finished!" Rozuzu shouted furious with Kururu. Heruru and Hiroro were at his side with tools. "Get away from it!" Kururu yelled getting up and rushing towards them. The four fought with E.X.E. when Miyiyi finished with the override. The brawl stopped with a loud _'ker-chak' _of a weapon pressed to the side of Kururu's head rang. Kururu let his hands off E.X.E. and stepped away from Miyiyi as the four of them stood against. He continued backing away until he was a safe distance from them. "You were going to betray us." said Miyiyi. "After all the work we've done, you were going to betray headquarters." she continued.

"Kururu Souchou…" Rozuzu began, he sounded as if he was going to make an epic speech calling out Kururu for all he was worth when an explosion erupted from his hands. Metal debris took off like bullets, and a huge static noise started up. When the smoke began to clear Kururu saw the horror of E.X.E.'s power. From the holes in the box the project had sensed the lifeforce from the four and let out an electrical charge to free itself to get to them. It had absorbed all of their lifeforces, killing them instantly. The same thing that had killed everyone on the ship had killed the four of them.

A small ball of energy rested in Rozuzu's hand when Kururu had gotten up to look at the damage. "Rozuzu…" he whispered with sorrow.** "KURURU SOUCHOU KURURU SOUCHOU KURURU SOUCHOU KURURU SOUCHOU!"**

Kururu covered his ears as E.X.E. through some form of electrical communication began screaming Rozuzu's last words. The two men from the army having heard the explosion came rushing into the room when Kururu stopped them. "Get out of here!" he thundered throwing a beaker at them. The two looking at the mess and the four dead scientists ran from the room to their ship and were gone within a minute.

That left him alone with E.X.E. and his dead comrades. He hated what had happened, and wondered what he'd do with himself. "The yellow devil…" he had blood on his hands now, a blood different than war. He could have saved them, he could have done something different. "Rozuzu…Miyiyi…" he breathed his fist clenching. E.X.E. had gone silent now, giving off a flash of blue light every two seconds. "What so now you want me?" Kururu asked it as he turned away from the scene and began suiting up to handle the project. Every hour on the hour the project would scream his name as Kururu began rebuilding it's storage and security system. He stayed within the lab for five days working on it's transport and on the final day, installed the rocket properly to the point where no amount of force could cause a rupture in the storage case. He set up a course into uncharted space and sent it on it's way just as Keron ships were approaching the lab.

* * *

"Why didn't it kill you though?" Giroro asked trying to keep his cool. Dororo trembled slightly at what Kururu had told them, barely able to grasp that something so powerful actually existed. "I…" he gasped.

"I don't know." Kururu mumbled. "I didn't look into it." Kururu leaned back to the wall behind him and slide down to the floor. "Now Garuru wants me to bring it back and give it to headquarters like I should have in the first place. How he learned of the project, I don't know. Headquarters knew about the project, but after I reported what had happened they put all hopes and information of E.X.E. away in top secret security." he said.

"Doesn't he know what it's capable of?!" Giroro growled in protest. Kururu gave him a furious look that stopped Giroro cold. "He doesn't care. No one cares." No one had cared except Kururu. He regretted his twisted report of what had happened, but at that point, he had decided he'd finish what he had started. Rozuzu and the others, he knew well didn't really want to give up E.X.E. to headquarters, but they wouldn't dare to disobey orders.

Kururu rose approaching Giroro. "You and Dororo have to escape." he said, his voice dead with seriousness. Giroro shuddered as he knew Kururu had a plan. "What about you then?" he asked. "You can come rescue me once you get back to Pekopon and find Keroro and Tamama." Giroro shook his head at his answer. "You're lying. We're all escaping." he growled. Kururu narrowed his gaze at him but said nothing. "Dororo." he said, addressing the light blue Keron who straightened himself when called to. "Yes?"

"Do you have any of your weapons?" Kururu asked intently. Dororo frowned under his mask and shook his head. "They were wise enough to disarm me completely." he said sorrowfully. "No, that's fine." Kururu said turning back to Giroro. "Giroro, if you don't mind, I have one more plan of escape."

* * *

AN- Well here's chapter 3, I've got most of chapter four already written, so it'll come soon. Only reaosn i've been updating so fast is because the first four chapters were already written by the time i got around to putting them up here XD Anyway, guys I RLY RLY RLY appretiate all the reviews, Thank you so much for taking them time to submit them! I could have swore this chapter was longer...word processor makes things look so much longer than they are... :-/


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Destiny: Souchou.EXE

* * *

A long night overtook the three soldiers. While the other two slept Kururu stayed wide awake. Although he didn't mind all-nighters, since he stayed the most awake during the night, Kururu was consumed by his thoughts of E.X.E.

_**"You were going to betray us….After all the work we've done, you were going to betray headquarters." **_

He hated the sound of Miyiyi's voice then. She sounded so hurt, a hurt that he had never inflicted upon a person before. Despite Kururu's shady doings, he had never outright betrayed someone. He'd create mind twisting and semi-faulty inventions, but, he had never betrayed, never disobeyed Headquarters, because despite his personality, he was still a soldier of the Keron Army. And despite his being a soldier of the keron army, he still couldn't be proud enough, couldn't be selfish enough to give E.X.E. to headquarters. The thoughts twisted in his head a deeper meaning Kururu could barely grasp.

"Kururu,"

Kururu looked up seeing that Giroro was actually awake, which had caught him by surprise. He didn't like the idea being seen while in sentimental though. "hm?" he asked. Giroro rose from where he had been trying to sleep and looked up, staring out the only window in the room high above them, a faint light shinning through from a distant star. "I got a message." he said in a whisper. "It was from Keroro. He said he's not coming for us." Giroro's voice held much regret, and hurt.

"Why are you so surprised?" Kururu asked faintly. Giroro's gaze fell to the floor, a frown crossing his flips. "I thought," he began, though paused. "That he cared about us. We are his responsibility anyway. But…" Giroro's voice was filled with sorrow. "I hate this. Being a prisoner to Garuru." Kururu nodded to him knowing that Giroro didn't really care about Keroro, but rather having been captured by his brother. "Hating it won't get us out of here." Kururu said casually. Giroro nodded to him in return, "I know," he said...

Morning came slowly, however the dawn of earth didn't greet Kururu, nor Saburo. Kururu felt his heart drop when he looked at the time. He hadn't slept at all. He heard a small beep from his neck, reminding him of his collar. It beeped a few more times before someone appeared at the door. It was Zoruru and Taruru again. "Just you today," Taruru said looking in Kururu's direction. Giroro and Dororo stirred from where they were sleeping. Kururu stood, brushing off his still bandaged legs before he walked out of the room joining the two that awaited him. As he passed through the door he stumbled forward, and nearly tripped had Taruru not caught him. "Be careful!" he warned helping Kururu stand. Zoruru fitted him with another pair of cuffs and he reluctantly followed the pair through several hallways, leaving Giroro and Dororo behind. They arrived at a set of double doors labeled 'control center'. Taruru pushed opened the doors and they entered into the control room of the Garuru Platoon's ship. Garuru sat at the controls with Tororo by his side. Once they entered Garuru spun around in his chair to face them. Taruru and Zoruru left his side and took up post at their own controls leaving Kururu standing below them all since all the controls were on a raised platform reachable by a ramp with a huge screen displayed in front of them.

"Our first objective is to locate where you sent E.X.E." Garuru announced looking down upon Kururu. "You're going to help us find it. You remember where you sent it don't you?" Kururu looked up at him smirking, "Planet Alucard, ku-ku." he answered. Garuru scowled down upon him. "Now is not the time to be making up names. We know ever planet that's ever been charted. There's no such thing as Planet Alucard." Kururu swore he heard Tororo burst out laughing hearing Garuru say 'Alucard' obviously he was the only one who had gotten the pun. Kururu simply rolled his eyes. "It's in uncharted space." He answered dryly.

Garuru rose from his chair and pressed a button amongst the controls. A large holographic screen appeared before Kururu. There were huge paragraphs shown on the screen, all of it which were in binary code. "Where did you find this…" Kururu growled in a whisper looking over his own work. "Decode it." Garuru ordered. Kururu shook his head. "This isn't normal binary. It's my own version, I've forgotten how it reads." Kururu complained, trying to find any excuse not to read out the map to E.X.E._ 'I forgot about this…' _Kururu thought, pressingly. He had only made the map when he was making a route for E.X.E.'s departure. He had made sure to dispose of it, and had never expected to see it again.

"Well I hope you can remember. Your comrades are depending on it." Just as Garuru had said that thought an alarm went off. All the present Platoon members jumped from their seats. "What what!?" Garuru gasped glancing about frantically. He then glared down at Kururu before he hopped the railed and jumped down to where he was. "What did you do this time!?" He demanded seizing Kururu by the collar around his neck. Kururu said nothing as the alarm rang a red screen replacing the binary map. "Two intruders are making their way to the docking bay!" Tororo announced. "Displaying camera surveillance." The large red screen was replaced by a camera view of Giroro and Dororo escaping. Kururu would have sighed in relief, but kept quiet as Garuru threw him aside and burst out of the control center. Taruru and Zoruru took off after him.

With them gone Kururu looked up at Tororo, who noticed he was the only one defending the controls. "Don't get any ideas!" He gasped pulling out a small gun. Kururu smirked before breaking out into a sprint up the ramp to the controls. Once he got up he came up behind Tororo and pushed him down the other side. As he screamed falling down the ramp, Kururu took to the controls.

He pulled up the security system and disabled it within seconds. Despite his hands being cuffed he was still able to hack without hindrance. He pulled up camera surveillance of Garuru's position and commanded a lock down on the hallway the group was in. He watched with pleasure that gates trapped them in the hallway, and took even more pleasure in their cries to Tororo for help. Kururu glanced over his shoulder to see Tororo at the bottom of the ramp struggling to get up. He wouldn't be a problem, even if he was armed.

Kururu continued to hack into the systems disabling any security artillery that would stop Giroro and Dororo from escaping. He opened the docking bay garage-like door and unlocked all the escape pods. He watched as Giroro stole fuel out of the other escape pods loading them into two separate ones. Each of them hoped into one and were out into open space within minutes. Once more to Kururu, their escape had seemed to easy. He closed the camera surveillance when an icon for an incoming transmission showed up. Knowing who it would be, Kururu opened the transmission. Giroro's face appeared over the screen.

"Skull-1 reporting." Kururu smiled, feeling more then pleased with himself. "Kuu-ku-ku." he chuckled with victory. "What more could you want?" he asked. Giroro frowned at him though. "We'll wait for you in ship orbit. Once we get away from the ship we'll make a transfer so you can ride with either myself or Dororo-" Giroro stopped when he noticed Kururu relaxing in his chair. "Kururu….?" he asked surprised.

Kururu put his head back exploiting the collar around his neck, he heard Giroro gasp at the sight of it for it was now a size smaller than it had been. "Looks like I'll be here for a little while longer." he yawned. "You should get going. Zeroro needs you. See to it you both get back to Pekopon safely."

"Kururu!? Why didn't you tell me!? We-" he began when Kururu shook his head. Kururu leaned forward in his chair and removed his glasses. "Giroro…" he whispered looking up at the red Keronian, one last time. "Good bye." he said, two amber eyes staring at his blurred face as he reached a hand forward towards a switch that would end the transmission. "Kururu! Wai-" The screen went black. Kururu pitched forward in his chair taking in a sharp breath as a sharp object stabbed his arm. He saw out of the corner of his eye, Tororo's figure standing behind him. "Damn you." he spat, pushing him out of his chair, not caring one bit as Kururu crashed to the floor painfully. "Garuru will kill me for not protecting the controls. It's all your damn fault." he continued to grumble to himself brushing Kururu's glasses off the controls, continuing not to care as they too crashed to the floor and cracked.

Kururu figured he had been stabbed again by the same poisoned darts they had used against him. However the numbness didn't last as long, but to Kururu's disappointment the rest of the platoon had returned by the time he could move his arm again. "Tororo!" Garuru thundered when he barged through the doors to the control room.

Tororo rose immediately and saluted. "I'm sorry sir, Kururu forcefully took the controls-" Garuru cut him off shoving him aside and seizing Kururu once more by his collar. Dragging him Garuru pulled him over to the railing and pounced over it.

As they fell Garuru threw Kururu before him, himself landing on his feet. Kururu crashed into the ground painfully and rolled over on his side. "Hell awaits you if you continue your mischief." Kururu gave a heavy cough, closing his eyes. "Don't think because they got away they're safe. Don't think we won't put you through hell to get to E.X.E!" He shouted loudly. His intimidation reached everyone in the room, but not Kururu. "Then kill me." he said weakly. "You don't deserve E.X.E.'s power. NO ONE DOES!" he shouted back. Garuru stepped back, surprised that Kururu had actually raised his voice, and how strange it had sounded. Sure he had shouted other times, but, never in anger, never with intent of intimidation. Kururu felt his heart and being on fire, burning with anger.

His burning passion helped him ward off the poison that threatened to paralyze him as he rose. _'I won't be held down by you.'_ his thoughts seemed more like words towards Garuru. Garuru had pissed him off for the last time.

Kururu would have then broken out into a fist fight for the sake of all their cruelty, but the lack of his glasses made it difficult. Garuru sighed at him. "Tororo, the map." he demanded turning away. Tororo scrambled to the controls and pressed a few buttons to bring the binary map back up over the screen. "No one cares about your personal view on the project. Just tell us where to go." Garuru said plainly without turning to Kururu.

Kururu dropped his anger, for a reason he didn't understand. These guys had tried to blackmail him, they had threatened him and even injured him. He had gone to every length to get out of it, and yet, he still felt like he had to do this. He looked up at everyone else in the room, studying them, wondering what they were wondering. Zoruru looked the same as always, but Taruru and Tororo were scared to death. Scared of what though? Garuru?_ 'This is stupid…'_ he thought frowning. _'I was scared…'_ He had surprised himself then. Kururu scared? The words sounded like they didn't belong in a sentence together._ 'I've never seen anyone this way though…I never imagined Garuru to be this cruel he…' _Kururu didn't want to think more on it. He knew Garuru wasn't the nicest of Keronians, and that he was considered a rival. But for him to be unfair and brutal, and of all people he picked Kururu. "Outside of the farthest galaxy from Keron, there's a crystal asteroid mass, called Sepron's Face. From my past calculations, the rocket would have ran out of fuel in that area, and drifted from there. That's all I know." he said darkly.

Tororo nodded to Garuru and turned to begin inputting a route to Sepron's Face. As he was typing away he froze, his glasses shimmering from the artificial light as he looked up. "Garuru…" he began, his voice sounding a bit lost. He suddenly turned about looking at his leader, nearly shocked. "We've already wandered to the edge of charted space." he said quickly. Everyone in the room looked up at him, surprised at his find. "We'll be at Sepron's Face in just a few minutes…"

* * *

AN- mrrf. I haven't been feeling so well lately. V.V; Anyway, as the story progresses I probably won't request reviews for continuation, but they're nice to see :3


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Destiny: Souchou.EXE

* * *

Five Keronians standing amidst the control room of the Garuru Platoon's ship were caught dumbfounded at the sight of Sepron's face. Before them a field of sharp, jagged red icebergs of crystal drifted radically in open space. Every so often a burst of electricity would jump from crystal mass to crystal mass. A true hell if there ever was one.

No one in the room other than Kururu understood the impact of the field, because only Kururu knew the details of E.X.E._ 'This is bad…' _He thought pressingly. He looked up at Tororo who was manning the controls, with Garuru standing over him, while Zoruru and Taruru guarded him. Even if he tried to tell them it was a bad idea, it seemed apparent that everyone would be more than happy to not listen to him. _'Might be better to let them find out for themselves…'_

As they entered the field Kururu noticed that Tororo activated a metal shield around fragile parts of the ship. "A metal shield…?" Kururu asked a loud, though he kept his voice down. Taruru still heard and jumped right on the question. "Yeah! If we get hit by a charge the metal can conduct it into our generators!" he replied in a chirpy voice. _'Generators…'_ He had forgotten that most ships come with back up generators.

For a moment Kururu wondered how they knew about Sepron's face. His gaze fell on Tororo as he was pondering, perhaps Tororo had read over his data?_ 'But I destroyed all my data…' _But apparently that wasn't true. The only data on EXE that was suppose to exist was the report he submitted to Headquarters, and the reports made during the eight days that EXE was studied, all of which had nothing to do with Sepron's face or the incident. _'Tch…'_ Yet, in spite of all his attempts to erase EXE, they had had his map.

As Taruru had predicted, the ship began to get struck by the electrical charges, which were redirected to the back of the ship. "Pu-pu! It's working perfectly!" Tororo cheered. Kururu cringed inside, knowing Tororo's favorite thing was turning someone's weapon or defense against them. They drifted amidst Sepron's Face in silence until Garuru rose from his controls. He stood over the railing peering down on the yellow keronian, "You've picked quite a spot to hide this project. I applaud you efforts." Kururu smirked a bit, acknowledging the compliment. Sepron's face was a perfect hiding spot for the project. No one would venture into the crystal mass, charged with electricity and on the edge of charted space, if not already in uncharted space. "They say the man who discovered this area, named it after himself." Kururu began, "One of the universes greatest technological engineers, however, he was infamous for his mistakes-"

"Don't bother." Garuru interrupted, turning back to him controls. "I'm not interested in this hell hole's history." Kururu grinned wider at his un-interest. "Apparently he tried to use this area's electricity to power his machines. However, he discovered why this place is not only dangerous, but useless." Garuru stopped what he was doing upon hearing Kururu's further details. "Useless?" he asked with a light chuckle. "It doesn't seem so useless to me. With all the energy we're collecting, we'll have enough to get us home with almost all our fuel-"

"Kuu-ku! It doesn't matter," Kururu's voice slithered around the purple soldier, screaming 'I know something you don't!'. Garuru sighed turning back from his controls, to Kururu. "Why," he growled, "Does it not matter?"

"You guys are the smart ones. Ask Tororo." he laughed. Tororo froze up at his controls, letting out a small hiccup. "Tororo!" Garuru demanded looking in his direction. "Y-yes sir!" he answered with a salute. Garuru gave him an annoyed look, making it apparent he was in trouble. "I uh….Don't know what he's talking about…." Tororo said, his voice shaking. "Lying to your comrades is not only dishonest, but also intolerable, Ku-ku-ku!" Kururu laughed chiming in. "Shut up! All you talk is a bunch of jibberish you damn nerd!" Kururu stopped laughing at Tororo's outburst and glared up at him. "Nerd? If a nerd can survive through Sepron's Face, then I would rather be a nerd compared to a failure of a hacker." he said, his voice growling, but also, hinting that perhaps Tororo really didn't know. In which case, would mean they truly were lacking his data. "Bakaaaaaaaaa!! You-!" Tororo began.

"Stop this bickering." Garuru cut in, turning back to Kururu. "You're with us in this place. You might as well warn us of whatever precaution we should be taking if you'd like to get out of here in one piece." he said calmly. Kururu rolled his eyes, annoyed because Garuru was right. "If all the energy is taken from even the smallest crystal particle, it'll cause a chain of explosive reactions that will jump from crystal to crystal and reverse the energy transfer. Instead of retaining their energy, they're release all of the raw electricity stored inside them in a massive charge." Garuru and Tororo's gazes widened at the news. "But that's not right! Their not retaining their energy! What about the charges being emitted right now!?" Tororo gasped. "Kuuu-ku-ku! You never studied. Like most metals, the crystals here have a polar make up. When those polar sides collide, along with the already high energy quantity, it would only make sense that the crystals would trade electrons through electrical charges. They can get very nasty that way as well."

By now Zoruru and Taruru had begun listening in, and Kururu's explanation brought all of their thoughts together. If their ship absorbed too much energy, they could discharge a small particle within the crystals and cause the whole place to self destruct. "By putting you ship in the way of all the electric charges, the charges cannot be complete and a crystal could go without a replacement for the energy it released. And if this place blows up, who knows what could happen to EXE." Kururu finished.

Tororo seemed to be taken back by the technical make up of Sepron's Face, he was beside himself at his controls. "But if we don't have our shield, the ship could get blown to bits!…How are we suppose to travel through this place?" he asked, his voice quieted with dread. "Simple. You don't." Kururu answered with a shrug.

"Why didn't you tell us this before we entered the area!?"

Kururu looked up at a furious Garuru taking to his controls. "Taruru, Zoruru, Tororo! Get us out of here!" He ordered, reaching under his desk and pulling on a lever that activated a manual override of the ship's course. All members of the platoon took to their controls. "Everyone hang on!" Garuru thundered. Everyone except Kururu, who hadn't expected such a rapid change of course, grasped the nearest thing to them as the ship shot upwards. Kururu fell forward flat on his face, and rolled back to the wall behind him. There he was able to grasp metal post that was supporting the wall. Huge roars of electricity could be heard all around them as they blew through the crystal field. "T-minus 10 seconds until exit of Sepron's Face!" Tororo cried out as the ship began to shake all over and rumble. For ten seconds the roars and the rumbling continued. Kururu wondered just how much damage was being done to the ship, knowing the manual override activated controls in the ship that hadn't been used in awhile, which was cause of all the noise.

The noise stopped and the whole ship seemed to be buzzing slightly when the purple/red haze of Sepron's Face was below them. All of the platoon seemed to let out a sigh all at once, when they realized they had made it out of the electricity field. Kururu relaxed a bit. He hadn't noticed that he had felt that grasp of panic when the ship darted for safety. He found it disturbing, but now wasn't the time to think on it. Garuru rose from his controls, placing a hand to his hip. From the way he had been acting, ever since Kururu had yelled back at him, he seemed….stressed. As if something heavy had been on his mind. He wasn't his calm solider self, with the exceptions of him being enraged by Kururu's interferences of course. "Call it a night." he heard Garuru say. Quietly the other members rose from their stations and proceeded to leave. When they had disappeared through the exit, without so much as a glance or word to Kururu, even from Tororo, Garuru himself began to leave. Slowly making his way down the ramp, he stopped when he reached the bottom and looked over at Kururu. His eyes lingered on him, wondering.

"What?" Kururu asked crossing his arms. Garuru's gaze softened, and he smirked. "Nothing." he said. Kururu quirked a brow at him, knowing that there certainly was something. Garuru only shook his head, "I don't think it would matter at this point. Whether you knew such items as EXE, or such places as Sepron's Face, existed, or not. It doesn't matter." he began. "Headquarters… they're not like they used to be…"

At that Kururu rose from where he was, his gaze was blurred because he still did not have his glasses, but he could see Garuru was feeling different than before. "I heard there was a change in ownership. I didn't figure it would make much of a difference, because nothing on Keron seemed to reach us on Pekopon." Kururu said, sentimentally. "They expect results. They expect a lot more than before, because of the war." Garuru replied, supporting Kururu's statement. "You all seemed so at peace on Pekopon, you don't even seem to be invading, and yet…" Garuru's voice trailed off.

"And yet you couldn't defeat us. You're respected for your ability to understand and accept defeat. You lost that when you attacked me." Kururu said. He felt his arms stiffen. The memory of the attacks fresh in his mind. He had been given everything, except the reason why. _'It could be different. Everything could be different.' _he thought, his rage coming back to him. Garuru noticed the anger rising in him, and placed a hand behind his head, scratching lightly as he let out another sigh. "If I was to be honest with you. I would tell you, that you, nor any of your comrades were ever in danger. But at the same time, I would be lying, because, our platoon cannot return home without this project, and I promised that I would not allow ourselves to become exiled because of failure."

Kururu looked up, completely surprised by what he had said. "When…." he nearly gasped, unable to understand how that could be possible. "You're….not lying…are you?" he asked, scrambling for justification. "No." Garuru muttered. "HQ is more serious than ever about this project. It's not for me to say, but, things are becoming desperate amongst the army. If you know what I mean." Kururu shook his head, noting that he didn't understand, (which was something that was becoming annoyingly more common of him). "That's why, although I agree with your view on EXE. I cannot spare mercy for you. I cannot spare sympathy, I cannot spare your pain, because this must be done. For the good of Keron, and now, for the good of my Platoon. Wouldn't Keroro Gunso have done the same?" he asked, hoping that Kururu would understand him.

Kururu became silent, wondering now what Garuru was wondering. What would Keroro have done? "I don't know." Kururu answered, "Even after your first attack, I haven't heard from Keroro at all."

"I see…" Garuru said. Ending their conversation with a lost hope, Garuru passed through the doors of the control room, leaving Kururu alone. Kururu considered a moment, going to the controls and taking over the ship, but, he realized now the reason that he hadn't been lead back to his cell right off. Garuru trusted him. He trusted him now, to help him, the help all of them. "Unfair…" he muttered walking up the ramp to the controls. He wandered towards the front of the ship, looking out the huge window, staring down upon Sepron's Face below. "Sepron died because he loved this place so much….but who, could really love this place….?" he whispered. He looked up out into the distant space seeing another rogue star far away from the ship. Miles from home, and now, caught between the most powerful weapon in the universe, and the home of four soldiers, he wondered which was worse. Kururu sighed realizing that he had never been defeated. No, he had never been defeated at all, Garuru's attacks of ferocity were out of fear. Out of fear that Kururu wouldn't help him, and out of fear that they'd never be able to go home again. He looked down at the bandages that covered him now knowing that fear had done this to him._ 'Emotions drive this universe…emotions…is all it would take to destroy it…'_

**_"And unholy weapon made by the universe itself as a means of self-destruction."_**

That alone described EXE perfectly to him. But did the universe really come to be just to be destroyed? Even if Kururu did somehow find a way to host EXE without it simply absorbing his lifeforce, he didn't know what would become of him. He didn't know what could happen, if he could control it, or if it would control him. His life, in his perspective, seemed to become like a sheet of glass in front of EXE. As if EXE was a giant hammer and could smash his to pieces without the least of effort.

_'It didn't take any EFFORT to take their lives…'_ he thought, referring to the scientists he had worked with. He wished that he could take it back, he wished HQ had given them more time. Time seemed to be the one thing that he lacked to most in his life. They always say "life is too short for this," or "life is too short for that," but really, if you thought about it, everyone had all the time in the world, if only they would stop and look around. It's not nature that creates the clock, it's people. No matter what form of life, it was people that made life so short. People made situations where there simply is no time to spare. Everyone can remember times when they were under the pressure, and even for Kururu, this wasn't the only pinch he had been in.

"Saburo…" As his thoughts trailed from his situation to his friends, he felt the desire to return home. Giroro and Dororo were probably being welcomed home by now. Tamama was probably with Momoka, eating snacks or something, and Keroro….

"Gunso…" Keroro's absence tore a hole in his desire to return home. "Where are you…? I'm stuck. I can't do everything by myself this time. I can't save you if you get in trouble." he said, feeling a taint of near hatred. Every time his comrades were in trouble, it was up to him to save them. But now, he was the one who needed to be rescued. And where was Keroro all this time? Giroro had said that he had received a message from Keroro saying he wasn't coming for them. But when Kururu thought about it, the message could've easily been made up to discourage Giroro from trying to escape. But still, he had little proof and it hurt to think that there was a possibility that even after all he had done for his platoon, that his leader had abandoned him.

Kururu sat down on large window sill, sulking. "Don't abandon me…" he whispered, sadly. It was then Kururu realized that everything he feared before, wasn't the fear of defeat or intimidation. But rather, it was the fear of destiny.

* * *

AN- I'm still not feeling well, but all my downtime is giving me more time to write. Microsoft word prosessor is annoying me because it makes the chapters look really long, then when i post them on here they look almost stupid short... If you all would, please continue to review, and tell me whatcha think! ;3


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

Destiny: Souchou.EXE

* * *

Kururu had tried to sleep that night, but found himself in a mess of dreams full of images that haunted him. The night went by restlessly, and the only way Kururu knew it was somewhat morning was when Taruru came to his cell. "You awake?" he heard the chirpy keronian call knocking lightly on the door. Kururu sat up abruptly, although drained of his energy, he wasn't tired either. "Yeah." he muttered in response.

Taruru burst through the door happily and let Kururu follow him freely. They made their way through a series of hallways in the ship till they arrived at large storage room. "Today we're going on a hunt for the project!" Taruru sang opening the door for Kururu. Silently Kururu entered the storage room to see five sets of suits laid out. Eying a yellow one he walked over to it and reached out to grasp it. "Careful!" Taruru warned. Kururu stopped and looked over seeing Taruru was wearing a pair of leather lined rubber gloves. He stared at them for a moment, silently wondering what they were for.

"These suits Tororo designed last night. They're made with electrically charged components that will allow us to wander around in Sepron's Face! The only danger they propose is the risk of magnification. That's why we're going to be searching for the project separately." Taruru explained in a sing-song voice. Kururu gave him a strange look then looked back to the suit taking his hand away. '_Tororo…?'_ he was too annoyed to be impressed by the suits; denying himself the idea that perhaps he wouldn't have been able to come with the idea of using already charged metals to reflect the high electricity content of Sepron's Face. "Anyway, I have to finish getting them prepared. Garuru is summoning everyone else in the control room. Go there before you get breakfast." Taruru said turning away from Kururu and back to his work. With nothing else to do, Kururu followed his instructions and left the storage room.

Heading down another series of hallways Kururu ended up in the controls room in less time than he had thought. However before he entered he noticed Tororo not far behind him. He stopped at the doors and waited for him. Tororo didn't seem to notice him until he looked up to push open the doors. He stopped short and jumped back at the sight of Kururu, like a kitten caught in head lights. "What!?" He stammered. Kururu smiled enjoying to idea of scaring Tororo so easily. Kururu opened his mouth to say something until he noticed something about Tororo. With droppy eyes and a crooked helmet, he really did look like he had been up all night designing and building suits, and that's probably why he was so out of it. "Nothing." he said instead, passing through the doors. Tororo would have followed him had Kururu not let to door swing back after passing through, smacking him in the head causing him to be pushed off his feet. Hearing Tororo let out a whiny scream he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Kururu!"

Kururu looked up to see a displeased Garuru glaring at him with his arms crossed. Kururu has missed that side of himself. The side that didn't care as much about the well being of others. "Kuu-ku-ku-ku." he chuckled loudly, not caring if it only served to piss Garuru off even more. Garuru gave him an odd look pushing past him to see if Tororo was ok. When the two had returned Tororo stood next to Kururu awaiting Garuru's orders. "Where's Zoruru?" Garuru asked passing by them picking up a small clip board. As if cued in Zoruru appeared from the shadows, silently joining the small group. "Taruru is already started working." He commented upon his arrival.

"Good." Garuru said turning back to face the three. "As you all know, today we're going into Sepron's Face in search of the project. Kururu, your first task is to provide us with a full description of what we're looking for." Kururu looked up as Garuru addressed him. "Kuu-ku. A jet-black metal cube no bigger than 6 by 6 inches. It should have a small white device attached to the top side and a red dot in the middle of every other side." As Kururu described EXE's storage case the others sweat-dropped. Even Garuru seemed a bit turned off about searching for the project. Kururu would have laughed more at their expense if he wasn't about to share it with them.

"So we're looking for a jewelry box in an electric asteroid field larger than the size of a two planets?!" Tororo moaned furiously.

"Kuuu-ku-ku. It'll take us weeks, even years to search this place with just the five of us." Kururu chimed in. However, Garuru had regained his poster and appeared determined. "We'll find it even if it takes us the rest of our lives." He said growling inside at the challenge. The group looked up at him, reluctantly awaiting his further instructions. "We have three transmission lines left. Keep in mind we need these lines to keep in touch if we're to search Sepron's face safely. Report every hour on the hour. If you're late Tororo will be calling you until you report, I suggest you don't, as to not waste time. Time is against us out here at the edge of the universe. Understood? In other words, if you blow one of the transmission lines, I'll kill you." Garuru seemed more serious than ever, and the group understood well the importantance of communication in dangerous escapades such as this. "Tororo, it's obvious you'll be staying on the ship. You'll be updating the visual map as we begin searching so we don't end up in the same place twice. You'll also be keeping track of everyone, and reporting all individual reports back to me. Understood?"

Tororo nodded intently at Garuru's orders and almost seemed to do a bit of a victory dance seeing as he wouldn't have to go out into the field. Once that was taken care of Garuru looked over the group once final time. "Zoruru, see to it Taruru is updated on what I expect of you all. Everyone, let's suit up."

All except Tororo left the control and proceeded back to the storage room. To Kururu it seemed to take less time to get back to the storage room than it had to reach the control, as if they were for some reason rushing to get outside. It was a game of needle in the haystack, a very dangerous one at that. Garuru separated from Zoruru and Kururu once they had reached the storage room. Either way, they met up with Taruru and within an hour were ready to go. "Where's Garuru?" Kururu asked as Taruru buckled up the last of his protective leather and zipped up the back of his suit. "He'll be here in a minute, I think he was giving Puru-chan her orders, since we'll be out all day." Taruru responded picking up Kururu's helmet and fastening it over his head. It was then Pururu and Garuru came through the door, Garuru already being suited up.

"Thanks for the help." Pururu said to Taruru, in a bit of a huff as she took his heavy gloves and got right to helping him into his own suit. Kururu blinked at Pururu, curious as to if she knew the story behind what they were doing. He hadn't seen her around since the incident in her lab, and wondered just what she had been doing the whole time. "Are we ready?" Garuru asked when Pururu had just finished suiting up Taruru. She turned around to face him and nodded. "Check your transmission line before you head out." she warned.

Garuru nodded back to her and she left the storage room heading to who knew where. "Alright then, let's begin. Zoruru, you are the first one out." Garuru ordered. As soon as instructed Zoruru turned from the group and headed out the door. Silence over took those still in the storage room, until they heard a small rumble from the backside of the ship. "Zoruru dispatched." Tororo's voice announced over the intercom. "HURRAY! MY TURN!" Taruru cheered running out of the storage room. Moment later another small rumble, and another announcement. "Taruru dispatched."

Garuru then nodded to Kururu, who gave him an odd look. "Go out the door, take a right and head all the way down." he ordered sternly. Kururu rolled his eyes and followed his instructions to the back of the ship. There was a dispatch room ahead of him, and he proceeded inside. Through the sliding glass doors, the ship rumbled softly as a small white gas poured into the dispatch room. Once he was been disinfected the doors on the opposite side of the dispatch room opened up and Kururu descended into space. As he left he could hear Tororo's announcement. "Kururu dispatched!"

The first site to greet him was the darkness of space, and it was amazing. The lights of the ship caste a faint beam into the open space, and distant stars sparkled all around him. He had been in open space several time before, and every time he was astounded by his surroundings. However, his mission remained fresh in his mind, and Kururu activated his custom wing pack, taking off in the direction of Sepron's Face. Flying down towards the huge purple crystal mass Kururu stopped short of it, sensing danger.

He was confused at first. Hand to hand combat wasn't his forte, and he wasn't that great at sensing danger, but he couldn't deny his strong feelings of warning. _'Exe…'_ Kururu's fist clenched as he began to recognize what was going on. _'tch…'_ Shrugging it off, he decided that perhaps he just didn't want to go into Sepron's Face. The place was dangerous, and he didn't quite like the idea of getting struck by electro magnetic rays, and hope his suit didn't become magnetized. But then when he thought about it further…he still didn't have a choice. Reluctantly, Kururu flew down into Sepron's Face, descending upon the most dangerous place in the entire universe.

"This is DeathStar-1, Transmission check, all respond."

Kururu flinched as he heard Garuru's voice come over the transmission line, reminding him they only had three transmission lines. "966, over." Kururu muttered into the small mic in his helmet. "T-1, over!" Taruru's voice sounded, followed by a brief, "Bot-0, over," from Zoruru. "Transmission check complete. Maintain radio silence via orders." Garuru finished. Kururu let out an annoyed sigh, but felt pleased he didn't have to listen to Tororo for the time being.

However, his silent luck didn't last very long when a rambuncitous voice sounded in his helmet. "966? What is that? Some sort of fail way of 666?" he heard Tororo ask on a private line. Kururu stopped where he was and contemplated responding. "Maintain radio silence via orders." Kururu said, chuckling to himself.He found it funny how Tororo was disobeying orders just to pester him.

"It's a private line, baka." Tororo responded. Kururu tensed at Tororo's taunting and put his hand over the communication controls attached to his suit just under his neck. "What do you want?" he growled.

"If you destroy the private line it'll cut the transmission line all together. I suggest you don't do that. Puu-pu-pu!" Kururu flinched again knowing now that Tororo was somehow watching him. "By the way," Tororo added, "Fly 12 meters south in 3.…2.…1..."

Kururu looked up seeing a massive electric wave coming towards him and found himself too surprised to move. He was sturck before he could grasp what was happening. His suit vibrated all over, shaking Kururu violently and the electricity colliding with the suit made him glow all over. The electricity shot through his suit and began to circulate until it stopped and exploded off of him and continued off in the path it had been going. Kururu looked up when it was over, stunned by what had happened. "What…" he breathed glancing about him for a better warning of anymore waves. "Like my suits? It uses electricity already present in the components of the suit to-"

"I know what it does!" Kururu nearly yelled interrupting Tororo's explanation. The radio felt silent until he heard a whimper on the other side. "Stop trying to piss me off. I'm busy." he growled straightening himself and continuing on his way. Tororo fell silent for awhile as Kururu searched up and down different crystal masses. But this silence that Kururu found awkward didn't last more than an hour. "966 status report?" Tororo demanded later. Kururu rolled his eyes hating how Tororo had pronounced the numbers but quickly answered, "Nothing yet." and continued.

The work was tedious, but internally, Kururu didn't mind. He was taking comfort in the hours that passed that EXE wasn't discovered. Although it was a game of needle in the haystack, Kururu couldn't shake the feeling that it would end before he knew it. After that a gaping hole loomed in his plans. What he would do once EXE was found, still remained unresolved in his mind.

* * *

AN- Gomen, gomen, I had planned on updating sooner, but school is started and etc etc. I dunno about you guys, I'm highly displeased with this chapter because it seems like a tedious chapter. I have better ideas for chapter 7 which is already half written. Tell me what you think, yes?


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Destiny:

* * *

"Kururu! Help me out with this!"

Kururu looked up over his desk piled with data at another energetic Keronian bent over a set of tools and a small object. Dressed in his usual- a white lab coat- Kururu rose from his desk and walked over to the one that had called him.

"What is it, Miyiyi?" he asked in a dead tone. The young scientist looked up at him and smiled. "I wanted you to see this! It's a gift for Rozuzu, his birthday is tomorrow!" she said happily. She leaned forward picking up the small object and lifted it up to Kururu from where she sat. He took the object and studied it for a moment, realizing that it was proving to be some sort of supped up mecha toy. "What have you installed on this?" he asked still using the same toy.

"Kururu! You're so lame! Can't you tell just by looking at it?" She gasped playfully. Kururu glanced down at her, lifting an eyebrow before returning his gaze back to the toy.

"A micro camera, audio device and, holographic scanner. You think he'd use something like this to spy on others?" he asked as if she was being stupid. Miyiyi frowned upon him and stood before snatching the toy from his hands. He simply shrugged at her and turned back to his work, leaving the encounter with a feeling of indifference. "You should be analyzing that data over there by the way, instead of playing with toys," he commented before picking up a stack of papers.

Miyiyi's face flushed before she spun around with her hands on her hips. "I'm not playing! I'm inventing! You should know the difference!" she cried, turning on her heel and marching to the desk across the room from Kururu's and sitting down on a stack of papers. "I hate this stupid thing anyway…" she muttered while grumbling to herself over the work she was procrastinating on. "I want to go home. I hate staying up here studying some…something…like this," she mumbled as she got lost in her thoughts. Kururu paid her little attention as he finished up his work for the night. Once he was done though, he rose once more from his desk and headed for the loft that was above the lab.

"Kururu…?"He heard a voice whimper from behind him as his hand grasped the ladder up to the loft. He looked over his shoulder back at Miyiyi, indicating that he was listening. "I think…I found something…" she said, her voice a bit drained of enthusiasm. Kururu turned back to her, now that she had more of his attention. She rose from her desk, holding three sheets of data and approached him. Handing him the papers she rubbed her eyes to fight off the weariness and long for sleep.

"What is it?" Kururu asked while reading over the data. It was a reading from EXE, apparently they had recorded it's voice without damaging their equipment, however as Kururu read the data, the words were all scrambled up,creating incomprehensible sentences. "It's in an old, old code from the oldest planet in the universe." Miyiyi answered. "I spoke with an old friend of mine, and he translated it for me. I want you to take a look at it, tell me what you think." she said flipping the paper over in Kururu's hands. On the back she had written the translation, forming what seemed to be a poem.

_"Life and Nature exist as two,  
Intelligence and Existence exist as three,  
Elements exist as seven,  
Destiny exists as one._

I chose."

The two of them stared at the poem with little idea what it meant. "Tell the others in the morning." Kururu instructed, not knowing then what would behold them within the next few days.

* * *

Kururu had been searching his thoughts all afternoon as he munched a dry sandwich. It took him awhile to realize that the sandwich was the only food he had had in a few days, (since Taruru had failed to provide him with anything despite his promises) which would probably explain his lack of energy. Although he would have liked a bowl of his curry over a sandwich, he wasn't in the mood to be complaining. The back of the ship hosted as a dining area for him and Garuru's platoon as they took a break from searching, and to Kururu's misfortune, Tororo had joined them. The only one who was missing was Pururu.

As the others chatted amongst themselves Kururu sat alone silently eating, and, at the same time, groped around his memories for any information that would become useful to him in what he still suspected would be the near future.

"Kururu…?"

Kururu jumped out of his thoughts realizing someone was speaking to him. He turned halfway around to see Tororo standing over him. "I need to talk to you." he said grimly. Kururu noticed the others had left, to where, he figured probably to go back into Sepron's Face. A frown crossing his lips, he was growing weary of his faction-ing against Tororo. "What do you want?" he sat turning away from him. Tororo exhaled his shoulders dropping.

"I don't want to tell the others but….I found it's location."

Kururu felt himself stiffen after Tororo had spoken. _'Found it?…what?'_ he was for the first time in his life, dumbfounded. He stood up immediately seizing Tororo, lifting him slightly off the ground. "What do you mean you found it?!" he growled in the boy's face. Tororo gasped, surprised by Kururu's violent question but quickly replied, "I-I found it-O-on the map-I-it's j-just-I-" Tororo stuttered horribly as he spoke and Kururu felt him trembling in his hands. Knowing what Tororo was going to say next, he released him. Tororo stumbled back, letting out a hiccup.

"What did it say?" Kururu asked in a low voice.

"I chose…Kururu Souchou." Tororo answered, after swallowing down his fear. "It's been sending me that message after you were struck by the electric wave earlier. It won't shut up, I-it's-It's-!"

Kururu raised a hand at him, silenced Tororo. Pushing past him he went into the storage room to begin suiting up again. A grim thought lingered in his mind. _'It FOUND me…' _He didn't want to believe it was possible, but how…or why…? Shaking his head Kururu stopped with his suit halfway on. His gaze fell down upon his left hand, although bandaged, it was clear that he was trembling. _'EXE….found me…'_ He'd never close himself into a no-way-out situation, but the feeling was there._ 'Exe found me…' _His hand closed in tightly around the inner fabric of the suit. He felt a fire ignite once more, his rage returning to him, along with something else. "I'll destroy it." he growled, gritting his teeth. Raising his head, Kururu smiled, a sick and twisted smile. "KUUU-KU-KU-KUU!" he thundered, "I'll destroy it.... once and for all!" Believing he had found his solution, Kururu quickly finished suiting up and was back out into open space in no time.

"966, do you copy Tororo?" he asked over their transmission. There was a pause until Tororo's voice timed in with a response. "I copy you 966. Transmission line check complete. Avoid all communication interferences for twenty seconds of radio silence." Kururu snorted knowing that Tororo was probably using that time to snack on something, what with Kururu taking a joy ride through hell. Sighing, he kept his line open and dived into Sepron's Face once more. The crystal mass greeted him with an eerie static noise, as if a broken radio was nearby and playing on full blast. "Radio silence terminated. 966 what's your loc?" he heard Tororo ask.

"About 120 meters southwest of the ship," he responded. "Can't you find me on your radar?"

Another pause before Tororo replied. "Go 24 meters to your right from where you are. You'll find one of the largest crystal masses in Sepron's Face. When you see it, fly to the very top of it."

Following his directions Kururu stopped short of a crystal mass that was several 100 meters in both diameter and height. "Huh…" he mused as he begun a journey to the top of it. He stopped again when he noticed something about this crystal mass that was different from the others. It was buzzing. _'…What?'_ he thought, surprised. The crystals of Sepron's face were made to have mass electric charges and high amounts of energy. Not only that, they traded electric waves between each other to balance themselves if too much energy drifted into them. For one to be buzzing meant that it had too much energy in it, and couldn't expel it. Feeling a chill run down his spine Kururu made a mental note of it and continued towards the top.

The crystal seemed to get narrower as it got to the top, however once Kururu finally reached the peak, it was still about twenty meters in diameter or more. The top of the giant mass was a plateau that seemed perfect for landing on. Kururu activated his gravity inducer and touched down on the peak. "Ok now what?" he asked breathing roughly into his mic. There was a brief silence on the other line after he spoke, until there was some rough sounds as if there was a struggle, followed by the sound of a short cut off scream from Tororo. "Tororo, come in!" Kururu said loudly into his mic. Turning from where he was standing Kururu looked back at the ship noticing bright flashes of light erupting from the from windshields where the control room was. Moving off of the private line Kururu accessed the transmission.

"Deathstar-1, come in!" he demanded, switching off his gravity inducers at the same time. Almost immediately Garuru's voice came over the line. "Garuru here, what is it Kururu?" he asked. It was then Tororo responded. "I'm under attack! Requesting assistance-!"

Kururu felt a sudden panic and lifted off of the plateau. However when he finally saw the ship of their attackers he stopped. "You gotta be kidding…" he breathed with a smile.

"Skull-1 reporting in. Do you copy 966?"

Kururu let out a loud laugh as he saw his very own ship docked. "Giroro?!" Garuru's voice exploded over the line. On the ship Giroro stood in the large windshields looking down upon Sepron's Face. His eyes scanned the area until they stopped on a small yellow mass; he smiled.

"966, I think it's about time we go home." Said Giroro, holding the mic up to his mouth. Kururu smiled wide as relief flushed over him. They had come back. All of them had come back for him. "Giroro!" he cried feeling almost too relieved to keep himself together.

"Kururu?"

Tororo's voice came over the line slightly puzzled. Kururu blinked, his hand outstretched towards the ship. "Kururu, what the hell is going on? Are you alright?" Tororo voice sounded again. Kururu blinked again, not believing what he saw. The ship was gone, Giroro was gone. It had been an illusion....?

"I…" he tried to respond. He fell speechless in his self-devastation; his outstretched hand began to tremble. "What was that all about?" Tororo's voice asked in a "WTF" type tone. Kururu let out a gasp, not realizing he had been holding his breath. His mind scrambled for an explanation, and even more for a purpose. His thoughts raced until his gravity inducers reactivated themselves and he violently crashed back down onto the plateau.

"Hey!" he growled into his mic.

"There you are. Kururu, what the hell happened to you? What was all that stuff you said about?" Tororo asked still as confused as he had been.

Kururu shook his head standing up again. "What did I say?" he asked putting a palm to his helmet where his forehead was. "What do you mean, 'What did I say'?!" Tororo exclaimed. "Grruhhh- Let me send over a replay then!"

A silence fell over the transmission until a faint static noise started and Kururu heard his own voice speaking. "Divide, tempest, existence, destruction, light, woman, hell, dark, man, heaven, revenge, savior, never, never, never,"

Kururu froze where he was listening to his voice ramble on and on random words meshed together. "Alright that's enough!" he grumbled, feeling too out of place to listen to it anymore. "Just forget it, we have work to do." he added, getting a better stand on the plateau. "Uhn….right…" Tororo sighed. "I'm sending you the drill right now," he added.

Kururu flinched when a handheld drill appeared out of thin air next to him. He reached out, grasping it in his hand and pulling it toward him to get a better look at it. "30 meters underneath you is EXE. With that drill you should be able to get to it in less than an hour." Tororo instructed. Kururu's expression shifted from between a crooked smile and a twisted scowl several times before he stretched his hand in front of him, holding the drill away. Moving his thumb he activated the drill and the end of it began to spin, picking up speed. He pointed it to the ground beneath him and as the drill spun a heated laser to dig into the crystal._ 'Heh, an energized drill…'_ Kururu thought with a smirk. Digging into the crystal was dangerous since he was splitting energized components, but with an already energized drill it made the cut clean and the parts he were cutting out simply drifted out of the hole and became their own separate small masses amongst the field.

As he drilled a question slipped through Kururu's mind. _'Why…'_

"Why didn't you tell the others about this?" he asked over the transmission. Tororo didn't answer for a long time, until finally he heard a faint, "Because you have to find it." he said.

"Eh?"

"It…told me…to…"

Kururu looked up from the drill towards the ship, wondering if Tororo was telling him the truth. EXE spoke to him? It seemed to have said a lot more than he was saying. Despite its words, Tororo had been able to track it's location from the transmission, but what did that have to do with Kururu? It was then he remembered his previous thought.

"It was looking for me…It only wants…" His drill jumped, interrupting his thoughts. Using whatever strength he could muster he kept the drill still as it continued cutting into the mass. "How much did you learn from it?" he asked looking back up at the ship.

However, that was a question Tororo did not answer. "Tororo?" he asked after a long silence. He hated how they had been fighting earlier only to turn around and end up working together. "Even if everything in the world becomes my enemy, will you protect me?" he heard Tororo whisper. Blinking Kururu turned his head to the side. "What the-"

"If I could do it all over again I'd give them back. Because of the shadows that have consumed me, you turned away." It was then Kururu realized that Tororo sounded like he was reading from a book, or rather, a message. He was reading aloud what EXE had said.

"I feel your fear,  
I love your fear,  
I feel your presence,  
I hate it so.

We wonder what's real,  
And I know,  
I want you to know,  
I want you to be,  
Destiny is calling from the shadows,  
The destruction of a beautiful dawn on the horizon of life,  
Existence is loathing itself once more alone in the light,  
I have a choice,  
One beautiful choice that makes me real,  
I chose….Kururu Souchou.

If I could be born again,  
I'd wish for you to play with me."

Tororo sounded like he was crying as he finished the message from EXE. Kururu had been too lost in the mystery of the words it had spoken. _'It's…alive?' _What made the message so strange was that, EXE sounded like it was sad. Like it was looking for someone to take care of it. _'No way in hell did I come all the way out here to play babysitter,' _he thought sheepishly as his eyes fell down to the drill. More random thoughts slipped through his mind as he tried to ignore Tororo's faint sobs over the line. He didn't want to hear him cry, but he didn't want to yell at him, because he couldn't understand the ferocity of EXE's message. Time passed and he seemed to collect himself again despite being alone up in the control room. Kururu's heart felt heavy as he stood alone in Sepron's Face at the same time, hunched over a drill that would bring him to the harbinger of destruction.

After a silence that seemed longer than life itself, Tororo spoke up again. "Only one and a half more meters." he said. Kururu looked down at the drill realizing just how far he had gotten down. After a few more seconds his drill shut off automatically. A nervousness sprung into Kururu as he realized how close he was to EXE. His eyes laid sight on a small metal box he had not seen for several years. His eyes laid sight on the only tool that had the potential to destroy the entire universe, and that it was alive. "Kururu! Your drill cut a hole into the case! Step back!" Tororo's voice shouted over the line. Kururu looked up at the ship puzzled, however, when he looked back down he saw what he was talking about.

A static roar came up from the hole followed by a banshee's cry made of electrical waves. "KURURU SOUCHOU KURURU SOUCHOU KURURU SOUCHOU!!!!" Hit by the sound waves with the intensity of a freight train. Kururu tried his best to cover his ears as he fell to his knees. His glasses shattered on his face as a huge line of electricity erupted from the hole shooting high into the space above him. "KURURU GET OUT OF THERE!" Tororo cried over the line. Kururu sat motionless on the plateau looking up as the freed EXE rained down upon him.

"KURURUUUUUUUUU!!!!"

* * *

AN- I've come back from the dead? I do that a lot actually =/ The next chapter is already completed, and to those who have been watching this story, you can be relieved that, holy crap I found a proof reader. She's a good friend of mine and she's good at what she does. She's not apart of , so, if you want to thank her for the work, her alias is 'Oba-san'. She'll be watching the reviews for this story. (it's because of her I will be releasing new chapters and getting them out timely)

On another important note: I received a number of questions about the KuruXGiro references. I will be firm when I say; This will not be a pairing fic. I did not write this fic to make it into a pairing, nor do I have any intentions of really pairing them up. Why? Because it has nothing to do with the actual story line I planned. In fact, the real reason I made those references was that it IS canon. One of my goals in this fic was to keep as many canon technicalities when writing this. That way the story seems more real, or in a sense, more possible and believable. Just like the KeroxTama references in the show, if you've watched the later episodes (though they are not subbed yet) Kururu technically develops a crush for Giroro. However, they leave it unclear if he really means it, or is just messing with Giroro's head.

Also I want to thank the recent reviewers because they inspired me to continue working on this. (Was surprised to see people digging this up from the pages of fanfics lol and RRing) Thanks guys!

-PW2


	8. Chapter 8

Twilight

* * *

Tororo collapsed at his terminal as a dead-defying static screech blasted from speakers of ship, destroying the speakers themselves and cracking all the glass in the control room except for the protected windshield. The control room's technology buzzed and zapped as broken glass sliced through wires and smoke smoldered from beneath the controls. Tororo crashed to the floor beneath him, his own glasses shattered.

Outside in Sepron's face, the Zoruru, Taruru and Garuru stood frozen when the first transmission line cut out.

* * *

**_The time has come…EXE_**

**_Density…….it's calling. Isn't it lovely? I love it. I think fate is the most beautiful things in existence!_**

**_T__here are some who believe in coincidences. I am not one of these people._**

**_Hey! Wake up already! Tch...you mortals are really the fragile type!_**

Kururu half-opened his eyes feeling a light, cold hand take his hand. He let out a gasp fighting for air when he realized he was alright. His vision was blurred for some reason. Reaching up he pulled off his glasses. _'What…?'_

"Finally!" A cool, soft figure wrapped itself around Kururu's neck, embracing him. Snapping awake Kururu held his arms out away from him, when he was able to see a transparent silver mass hugging him. "Who…?" he gasped. He let out another gasp when his voice failed to sound. The silver mass released him after a brief moment and when they stood separate Kururu was able to see that it was nothing but an airy cloud of energy in the form of a dense mist. "Welcome to my realm, Kururu Souchou." it said.

Kururu glanced around studying his surroundings. It looked as if they were standing inside a crystal in Sepron's Face. Purple crystal formed a giant room around them, with a purple fog trailing from the ceiling and along the floor. Was it possible to be inside a crystal in Sepron's face? Trying to keep rational thought Kururu struggled to remember what had happened before. All he could bring forth was the sight of a huge energy beam, and Tororo's scream over the transmission line.

"Who are you?" Kururu tried to ask the silver mass. It swirled in the air a moment before responding. "I'm life." it said. "Mortals could refer to me as energy, some even called me an angel, immortal, a god. You can call me whatever you wish though." Kururu didn't know what to say to that but reached out towards it. "Where am I?" he asked, still hating the silence that followed. Despite the lack of sound, there seemed to be an acute understanding between them. The silver mass twirled around his hand, sending off a frigid sensation.

"My realm. It can be anything you want it to be. Right now, it's what you last remember." it said. Kururu had so many questions, and with the way things were going so far, he wondered if the silver mass would really just straightforwardly tell him everything he wanted to know.

"I will." it said, answering his thoughts. Kururu flinched taking a step back. "Did that frighten you?" it asked, flying about him despite his frantic movements. "Kururuuuuu…." it said when a hand gripped his wrist, stopping him. The silver mass had reached out and seized him with a Keronian-like hand. It was a shimmering white and from there the rest of the mass began to form a shape mimicking his. A pair of glowing purple eyes looked at him, and it smiled.

"Well?" it said spinning around and posing.

"Can't you come up with a name for yourself?" Kururu said, in silence. The silver keronian frowned at him making a face. "Fine then….how about…EXE? That's what your little group kept calling me back in the mortal realm."

_'Mortal realm?' _Kururu wondered. Realizing that EXE had been reading his thoughts the whole time, and that he had been unable to speak, Kururu lifted his hands to his face. Besides his suit being gone he realized in horror that his hands were transparent, as was his whole body.

Kururu felt a chill on his shoulders. _'Am I….dead?'_ he thought his amber gaze locking onto the generated eyes of EXE. EXE smirked at him crossing it's arms.

"Dead? Well…have you ever tried to think of it as, perhaps you were never alive in the first place?" it said lifting off the ground. "No, you're not dead. You're living for the very first time!"

Kururu's gaze narrowed at it, his hand fisting. "You killed me!" he shouted, his voice still silent. It seemed like the strangest thing to yell at someone. However EXE only smiled more, seemingly prepared for such an outburst. It's eyes stole into his, a look of affection.

Jumping with surprise, he couldn't believe it. _'You can't be serious….'_ he thought.

"I am!" EXE burst out. "I'm here! I'm right here! Look at me!" it screamed, it's voice so rapidly becoming shrill, resembling the static screeching voice he had heard before, and perhaps the same voice Tororo had heard. "Why won't any of you mortals look at me?! Why do you all always turn away!? Look at me Kururu Souchou!"

Kururu lowered his head covering his ears as EXE screamed in fury. The transition from calm to explosive had surprised him. He had no idea that EXE could be so easily upset. If he was honest with himself, he really knew barely anything about EXE after he had realized that EXE was an actual person, or being. "I hate you mortals! I hate your hate! I hate it all!!!" Rising higher into the air the crystal that composed the room turned from a sentimental purple to a fiery red. "You cannot be the intelligence you are by existing! You cannot be complete by existing! You cannot exist like I can! I give and give everything to the mortal realm! I AM LIFE!! And what do I get in return!? Nothing! Nothing but hate from you mortals! Nothing but silence, nothing but hate and fear!"

"But you exist in my realm..." Kururu said, looked up at EXE seeing that despite it's cries, it could not truly cry, because that was such a human expression that EXE lacked. It was then Kururu was beginning to realize just what had happened to him, and what was going on. He didn't believe it at first that there was another 'realm' in the universe, or plane of existence, he however he knew there was an afterlife. Spirit-chan back on pekopon was proof of that. But even then, Spirit-chan had existed on the mortal level of existence. But did the incarnation of life truly dwell in plan of the afterlife? Or was this truly it's own plane of existence? And was he really dead? He was unable to tell at this point, and EXE seemed too distressed to ask. A god in distress sounded ironic, but it made sense. Kururu had been chosen by a god.

"Why me?!" he spoke up trying to shout over EXE's ear splitting shrieks. EXE stopped in it's fury looking down at him. "Why…?" it parroted blinking. Kururu growled internally. 'Why' had been the only thing he had never been able to understand. Why, had been the only thing he could never figure out, and the only thing that he needed to know. Why had EXE picked Kururu, of all people in the entire universe, to be it's host?

EXE smiled weakly at him it's fury dissipating as soon as it had come. It lowered itself down to Kururu, wrapping it's arms around him once again. "You did me an act of kindness." it said. Kururu's gaze widened at EXE's response, unable to understand what it meant. "You protected me from your planet's army didn't you? You sent me away because you know I'd only be used. You sent me away to protect me from those mortals. You protected me from the universe." EXE explained.

"Protected you?" Kururu searched his memories of the day he sent EXE away. "But…" He had sent EXE away to protect the universe from it. Not to protect EXE itself. Was that really the only reason why? Had it been anyone else in his place would they have had to go through all this? A coincidence sounded just about right at this point.

"And now those horrible mortals are back again for me. And yet, here you are again to save me." Exe continued. "I don't care if you were a mortal like they are, it doesn't matter anyway. You're mine now. And they can't harm us anymore." As EXE spoke it slowly slipped it's hands tighter around Kururu's neck, squeezing with delight.

"Explain." Kururu whispered in thought. EXE grinned, "See for yourself." A static thundered growled all around them coming from the crystallized boundaries. "You're mine forever." Exe whispered as it reached up behind Kururu digging it's hands into his back. Kururu flinched as his vision whirled and darkened.

A brief moment later the two appeared back in the real world, or so Kururu thought. EXE released him and turned away. "Look." it mumbled pointing in front of them. Kururu moved next to it to see what it meant when a loud explosion erupted from where EXE had pointed. The velocity of the explosion didn't seem to effect them, however. When the smoke cleared a roaring static noise vibrated from below. And on top of a huge crystallized plateau, stood a two foot tall keronian comprised of pure energy. "What is that?" he asked. EXE said nothing, but as they moved closer to the mass, Kururu was able to get a closer look at it.

It was Kururu's body.

"It rips matter apart, atom by atom, and could destroy whole galaxies, and everything in them within two seconds." EXE said, quoting Kururu's own words which was assumingly pulled from his own memory. Smirking, it looked over at the thoroughly disturbed Kururu. "You think you've let yourself become a monster now haven't you? You can be so unoriginal sometimes."

Kururu trembled slightly, not knowing what to think. This was much more backwards than what he had thought, or anything he could have tried to imagine. His world had been flipped, and even more than before, there seemed almost no way out. "Tch…" he gasped, seizing his hand to cease the shaking._ 'Run…they have to run. They'll be the first ones I kill!'_ he thought, horrified. Tororo, Zoruru, Garuru, Taruru, Pururu too! But they didn't know!

He felt a hand on his shoulder wrap around him in another embrace. Quite the clingy type this EXE was...

"Who cares if they're killed? I already told you. Now that we're together, we can destroy this universe, and be safe together in my realm for eternity." it said.

Kururu violently shoved EXE away from him, furious. However, EXE had him at every advantage, except for one. Kururu wasn't one for being random, but his mind was clear as ever for the first time in a while. Knowing EXE's explosive and uncontrolled emotions, he pried on one of the few things he knew how to do best in his life.

"Kurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukurukuru…"

His thoughts emptied, and his resonance vibrated ferociously. EXE's gaze widened and it jumped back from Kururu with an exasperated expression. "What are you doing? Stop that!" it cried. Kururu's face fell blank, his amber eyes fixed on EXE. "I said stop it!" EXE shouted growing offensive. "Shut up! Why are you making such a weird noise?!"

"SHUT UP!!" EXE screeched reaching out and smacking Kururu across the face. He stumbled back a few steps his mind and voice both encased in silence. Using the bewilderment to his advantage, EXE too, was feeling the silence unable to read a thoughtless mind. "Kuru-Kururu…!" EXE gasped. It clinged to Kururu once more. However it failed to realize his patience had long since dried up for it's games. He grasped it shoudlers holding it back from him, glaring down into it's helpless purple eyes with irritation and anger.

"You call yourself a god?" Kururu's thoughts protruded, breaking the silence. "You call yourself life? Is 'life' really this desperate? Is this how you think it's proper for a god to act? You've the same persona as a sociopath."

"Sociopath? How dare you! You realize I am in control!? Do not question me!" It barked back at him.

_'A god with a god complex...'_ Kururu thought rolling his eyes inwardly. However EXE had surprised him, he expected nothing more than the relfection of his own rage as he had chewwed her out. Irregardless, Kururu roze over EXE, pity was now out of the question as he developed something rather short of a plan. "You're more alive than I could have ever thought..." he said drawing closer to 'her'. Since he had laid sight on EXE, he knew that it truely had no gender, but if life had such human traits, then it had a heart to believe itself whatever he wanted.

His gaze softened, and she gasped as Kururu took her hand. "You're right though. You are in control. And I belong to you. We hold everything in the mortal ream in our fingertips." he said. Darkness protruded around them. The real world faded into a black mass, to the point where the only source of light radiated from EXE, barely illuminating Kururu beside her. Reaching up lightly touching her face Kururu frowned. EXE looked so sad, even for Kururu. She looked like someone who had dwelled in the darkness for millennia.

'_Life...that dwelled in the darkness…'_

"Life destroys Nature,

They're separate because they cannot coexist.

Fire, water, Air, earth….light and darkness…"

EXE's voice slithered through the air around him as she closed her eyes, not moving. "Twilight."

Kururu looked up silently as he understood what she was describing. "Separation of what can be and what is, elements seven in all…" he whispered acknowledging her prose.

"Thoughts are a mass of life, energy is without dependent needs, Existence defysit all." EXE continued. As the pure-energy keronian-shaped god thought to herself, she began to glow brighter little by little. Kururu held her close, trying to stop her rage. "Don't kill them." he whispered. "Let them live in the real world."

"One life for every death."

Kururu flinched at her last words. _'Please don't kill them.'_ he thought, his pride cracking and shattering to pieces. "I asked them." EXE said slightly pulling away from Kururu and looking into his eyes. "I asked existence if I didn't have to be alone. I had worked so hard, for so long, and created so much. But, when I realized that every time I gave apart of myself to the mortal realm, I would lose more than what I would get back. It was then I realized I can do anything. The only thing holding me back was the depressing thoughts from the mortal realm." Kururu didn't understand what she was talking about, his thoughts no matter how hard he tried to concentrate began to worry more and more about what was going on in the real world. "One life for every death, one destiny, and one fate for all of the mortal realm." EXE added.

'_For the mortal realm…?'_ It made perfect sense, because it was common sense. But, what was she getting to? "You're right Kururu. I'm no god compared to the mortal realm's standards huh? No, I'd rather just be me. But…I guess I was wrong."

EXE pitched forward and kissed Kururu on the cheek before pulling away. "I want to see the mortal realm, and I want to be with you. But…." EXE then stopped as she drifted away from Kururu going a little higher and farther away. "I was wrong. Mortals could never give up what means the most to them. Even if their lives will still end, it changes nothing. Even the most sinister of mortals amongst them still have something in their heart. And, I have a heart of my own. I, life itself, have a dream." EXE then stopped hugging herself closely as she dispersed back into the silvery mist that she had originally been.

"I want to learn."

Kururu lowered his head upon her words. A god wanted to learn? Once more it made no sense, but every bit of sense. There was nothing in the darkness, and if life was always giving itself away mindlessly to what it was creating, then, there would be nothing for it to know. Nothing but darkness and the isolation of ignorance. It was not much that she wanted to learn, but that she wanted to know. She wanted to understand what was out there. Even in her existence in the mortal realm, she dwelled in isolation as a weapon that destroyed everything it touched. And because of that failed attempt to try her own hand within the mortal realm, all she knew was the death of what she created, and that wasn't much to know. Despite his short understanding of the motive, Kururu didn't understand why life premitted life from it's own isolation, and yet, death in the mortal realm? Perhaps life and death were of the same coin, instead of two separate entities. What EXE represented wasn't the method by which it created, but the energy transfer involved in creation. As if the universe ran by a single lifeforce. A circulating energy of light, the sun, or even the electricity generated by a heartbeat. She wasn't manifestation, but the energy of life. So in a sense, she wasn't really life or death, but existence with free will. So then, why was she sad?

Reaching out a hand to the silver mist, Kururu looked up with determination. "I will help you learn!" he shouted, smirking.

EXE gave a short chuckle before spiraling down towards Kururu. "Protect me. Teach me. You will?" it's voice whispered across Kururu's mind. As EXE got closer it changed substance from it's silvery mists to a bolt of lightening. Crashing into Kururu's chest he absorbed it falling back from the force of it and EXE's darkness became his own.

At first he panicked as he could no longer see around him. Though he quickly calmed down, and was surprised to feel no change in himself.

"…Kururu…?"

Jumping Kururu glanced in all directions to figure where the voice was coming from. "EXE…?" he called out. However it wasn't EXE's voice. It was someone else's, and it sounded…human. Waiting in the darkness for something to happen left him in a suspended animation. However before long the scene changed on him like a flashing fast-forwarded movie. Images of his past flashed before him, as if EXE was going through his memories. However the flashing movie stopped on one scene.

"…Kururu…?"

He stood within a small apartment house, and it looked nothing like Japan. The smell of curry perfumed the air, and he relaxed. He hadn't had curry in far too long, and it brought on a feeling short of homesickness. He looked up as he noticed a human standing before him. She had short light brown hair, reading glasses and looked astonishingly like Hinata Aki. Studying the human for a moment, he frowned. "Who are you?" he asked. However she seemed frozen in time, as if he was standing in a photograph. Frownign again he looked past her seeing another human, taller than the one with the glasses. She was tall, lean and thin as ever, with unkempt short green hair and bloodied bandages around her arms. She had a hard expression, he didn't care much to look at her but noticed the symbol on her shirt looked like Giroro's. Scanning the room around him he saw Giroro turned around, facing the girl with the green hair. "Giroro!" he called out, finding himself full of conflicting feelings. He looked back to the girl standing before him, trying desperating to imprint her face into his memory. Her sad expression had so quickly reminded him of EXE. But who was she? And how did she know his name? Sighing in thought, he glanced about him, knowing the freezeframe wouldn't last. He obviously had not experienced this moment, which made him wonder who the two girls were, and why Giroro was with them. Was this the future? Or something that could be? As fast as the memory had come, the darkness returned.

_'__Exe…' _he thought, understanding what had just happened. Kururu closed his eyes as the roaring of a thousand winds sounded along with a screaming static noise. Over the thundering noise Kururu heard EXE's voice for, perhaps, the very last time.

_**I chose, and I loved it.**_

_**

* * *

**_AN- I really should thank you guys. Reading over the reviews, I was surprised to find people were still reading and reviewing despite me not updating for the longest time. The story is technically finished. I've already completed the last chapter. However, they're still in roughdraft form and there's a few bugs i need to tweak and fix and add to keep the story making sense. *pushes up glasses* Despite the reviews about the pairing that never was really going to happen, you guys have been really good. No matter how long it will take, the story WILL be finished, since it technically is kinda finished LOL. (Though I do suppose it was a bit cruel to go poof on you guys right on the biggest cliffhanger) LOL KU-KU-KU~


	9. Chapter 9

_Taken in Sin and Grace,  
I reject my Self-fulfilling prophecy._

Chapter 9

When Kururu came around, he quickly recognized his surroundings. He was back in the 'mortal realm' and he was also back on the same plateau where he had left in Sepron's Face. He had fallen while he was with EXE, but was on his feet rather easily. He felt as if he had just taken a cat nap, not losing too much energy, and his head was a bit clearer having met with the answers he had been searching for all along. It was finally over. He had met fate, and he had defeated it.

However, when he looked down to check on his suits energy and oxygen levels he realized his suit was gone. "W-what....!?" he gasped. His hands were buzzing, or rather, humming, as was his whole body, covered in a layer of pure energy. He clapped his hands together to reassure himself that beneath the layer was still his normal self, which to his relief was still there. But what he didn't understand was how the energy wasn't burning him...or was it, and he just couldn't feel it? "EXE..."

EXE had shown him the monster he was capable of being. The rage and desperation released, fate itself in the process of manifestation was this monster. A monster of energy with every power to create, and destroy. This monster was what he had succumbed to fearing. For 'this monster' was Power in a raw form.

Power to create and destroy is what he kept telling himself. Or perhaps it was just destruction? In a world that EXE had created, a world filled with no room for further 'creation' perhaps that left only destruction. He had the power to destroy everything and anything, while making time irrelevant in the process. With this 'power' he was in control. Grinning, Kururu felt all the stresses from before leaving him. As his thoughts raced, realizing what he had become, his fears seemed to disappear, for he no longer had a reason to be afraid. As this monster, no one could stop him, not even a god.

"No one...no one at all!" he cried, though his voice was shadowed by a buzz of static. He was a monster, he was divine, and he was all-powerful. Rising off of the plateau, space no longer seemed to pose limits on him. Even the hellish enviroment of Sepron's Face appeared to bow down without his expense. EXE had surrendered to him, she had given him her life, and now he was her everything, and that meant all the power that she beheld. Chuckling, he was beside himself with this devastating realization. Yes, a god had chosen him, and for the longest time, he thought it as a means of being condemned. But no, he was wrong. So wrong, and yet, he was more than willing to admit his mistake. EXE had no intentions of condemning _him _but rather, condemning the world and his enemies. At the moment, he couldn't imagine living to regret the events that had passed, for who in their right of mind could? In his mind, EXE, or Fate, or Life, or perhaps all three combined, had just made the most worst mistake of all time, giving the power of a living, but nonliving god to someone like him. It was ironic, but the world already wallowed in a vat of irony, so perhaps the universe was no different than it was before.

The Garuru platoon, who had brought him to this, and who were truly responsible for what had happened to him, were in Kururu's mind, responsible for their own deaths. He was certain that EXE had taken their lives while he was with her; Or at least that's what he thought. For however long (he had no way to be certain just how long) he had been with EXE, he knew this monster was on a rampage. But what was the extent of it's damage? Looking around Sepron's face he frowned for nothing seemed changed.

He looked up at the ship, where Tororo had been tracking him and EXE and saw smoke pouring from the control room. Kururu felt himself drenched with power, and despite the thought that all of the Garuru platoon might be dead, he had so easily ceased to care. Realizing the heartlessness that came along with the monster, he chuckled. "As they say...the only difference between a president and a dictator, is moral values." he chuckled. Closing his eyes, he spread himself out, feeling through his mind for the extent of his power. If there was an extent.

He willed to know the secrets of the universe. From every planet, to the lives of every person. All the useless, useful, corrupt and divine information there was; information better left unlearned or information that should be known to the world; He wanted to know it all. The energy around him seemed to hum louder and began to build up, as if he was holding it back from explosion. "I'm not holding you back. You can do whatever you want." he mumbled, as if talking to his power directly. Though it seemed a bit cracked up, raging beams of energy sprouted from him whipping and cutting through the crystal masses around him. Kururu watched the destruction around him, then brought the beams bounding back to him. He could control pure energy.

Something he also noticed while taking a gander at his power was that apparently the tight vacuum of space and the freezing cold temperature no longer effected him. His suit lay in pieces in open space not far from him, and the proof that he was still...there, seemed to be proof of that. Getting an idea he held out his hand and concentrated. The remains of the suit disintegrated, molecule by molecule, atom by atom, till it completely evaporated into nothing. This process was slow, though to Kururu it only seemed that way because he did it for the sake of observing something like that, if he wanted, he believed he could do it faster, maybe whole giant masses in a matter of seconds.

Having enough with the experimentation he took off towards the ship. At first he didn't feel like he was moving very fast through space until he realized he had reached the ship in mere seconds, when it took him a good half an hour to get out there in the first place. He touched down on top of the ship, peering in through where the smoke was coming out. Instead of having to climb through the opening Kururu simply seeped through, disintegrating any part of the ship that was in the way. He made his way through the ship, not having to walk when he could simply glide or fly for that matter. He listened intently for any sight or sounds of the others, to find out if perhaps he were wrong and they were still alive. When he realized he was wasting time, he stopped to concentrate again.

Without any means of how, Kururu could sense any presence of life within miles, and if he concentrated enough, the whole universe. But he stopped at least a few miles. "1....2...4....hm..." Kururu reached out his hand once again, and within milliseconds, the entire Garuru Platoon ship disintegrated around him. The entire mass of the ship fell to dust and ashes defusing out into space. Following his quickening instincts he glanced out into the distance spotting an escape pod. Kururu grinned. "Trying to escape are you?" he asked in a cocky tone. He gave chase to them, and the thought crossed his mind that if he wanted, he could go faster than light itself, and maybe time too. He caught up to the escape pod in seconds latching onto it. He heard a number of horrified screams coming from inside. Grinning, he seeped through, this time, leaving the ship intact as to preserve the lives of those inside, if only temporary.

Inside he found all of the Garuru Platoon stuffed inside the little escape pod. Kururu tore the door to the control room open and peered inside. Garuru had heard him entering the ship and had armed himself, standing before his platoon, guarding them against his entry. Taruru and Zoruru were behind him as always, however, Tororo lay in bandages with Pururu tending to him behind the group. Kururu found it only too amusing. "Kururu!" Garuru roared immediately upon sight of him.

"KUUU-KU-KU-KU-KUUUUUU!!!" he laughed uncontrollably. It was too funny. Before they were what? Holding him hostage? Holding him against his will? And now they stood helpless against him! Kururu couldn't hold back his laughing fit, cackling maniacally. Garuru kept a hard, stern look on him until he could control his laughter. Half tempted to ask what was so funny, Garuru settled on a brief, "You're alive...?" However, it seemed to be the wrong answer for Kururu only burst out laughing again.

Though, he picked a good time to cut his laughing fit short looking up relatively pissed off. "No....but I certainly am not dead!" he growled taking a threatening step forward. "How was it you all seemed to escape while I died for your sins?" he growled taking another step forward. Taruru and Zoruru took a few steps back, frightened by the pure, powerful energy that resonated off of Kururu, however Garuru held his ground. Though, even Garuru had nothing to say to him. "How was it you escaped god's wrath? Or perhaps you're just that good? So good that you would defy a god?! You think you're better than me! You think you're better than everyone! Is THAT how it is?!" he growled, consumed in rage. "Ku-ku-ku-kuuu....that is how it is. Yes. You mortals make a stand, then run away from the consequences. You should know better,....GARURU!"

Rage began to consume him; though not only his rage. But all the rage in Pandora's box, all the rage of the world, collecting. The anger felt like a thousand fires consuming the world. Anger was all he felt, any fear, love, sadness, sympathy, deprived itself of him. He almost wondered if they ever existed, and that perhaps in his time as a 'mortal' he had tricked and convinced himself of possessing such qualities for they seemed to profusely far away. Kururu made a few more advances, his energy nearly exploding, threatening to rip apart the escape pod. However, Garuru still wouldn't stand down. This only served to enrage Kururu further. "I realize what Keron's done...What _I've_ done." Garuru said dryly. "I take full responsibility for your condition and for the actions of my platoon as well as Keron's orders. They are innocent." Garuru finished, holding firm.

Kururu only chuckled. "...My 'condition'. Such a predictable word coming from you. This is no condition, and...there's no such thing as innocence. Why are you trying to protect them?" Kururu accused him. Garuru crossed his arms, holding himself more straight than he had ever stood in his life. "I am responsible! Myself, alone!" he shouted in his commander's voice. It didn't seem unlike him, a refined solider, undoubtedly the finest of his league, no more prepared to die for his men than his planet.

Kururu grinned. "Then you will feel god's wrath." He said reaching out a hand towards the purple Keronian. Garuru clenched his fists, staring hard at Kururu, afraid but unafraid.

"I see nothing but a yellow devil." he said.

"Your last words will follow you to hell."

Kururu grasped Garuru violently around the neck. However when his real hand touched Garuru's flesh, Kururu felt a burning pain searing his hand, that proceeded up his arm spreading to the rest of his body. At that very moment both of their screams rang out through the small escape pod as they both collasped. The light and pure energy that had been surrounding Kururu slowly began to sink below his skin, hiding itself away inside of him. All the while it burned him all over, a burn deeper than anything he had every felt before in his life. As if struck down by lightening but slowly, or being tortured by a demon. When it passed he laid on the floor of the escape pod, deprived of any strength and any thought capacity for the moment, and for the first time within a number of hours, he breathed.

Garuru had fallen back into Zoruru and Taruru's supporting arms. Garuru, despite a severe burn around his neck, was still breathing and alive. All of them seemed caught in the confusion of what had just happened, and a soul-breaking silence consumed them all as they waited for Kururu to get up, or to say something.

Kururu's head spun faster than he could realize. So fast it felt like it was standing still. Had EXE done something? What happened? Where was his power? Where was the monster? These questions seemed to answer themselves when Kururu opened his eyes again. His glasses were long since gone, but when he managed to sit himself up, he noticed the symbol on his chest was glowing with the energy he had possessed. It had hidden itself inside of him, hiding in his very being, the only thing that he didn't know was, and not to his surprise, _'why?'_.

Garuru, with the help of his subordinates, was back on his feat, though he felt as if Kururu had nearly sucked the very life out of him. Seeing Kururu relatively back to normal came as a relief to him, and he managed a weak smile. "You're out of your mind." he coughed.

Kururu didn't know what to say. He was going to kill him. Nothing was holding him back. So why did his power run away from him when he was going to use it? Wouldn't that just be self-defeating? "No...no....NO!" Kururu gasped getting to his feet. "No- h-how-!"

"It didn't want you to hurt your friends..."

Kururu looked over at Tororo whom was the speaker, and who stared at him with one eye, since the other was bandaged. Kururu frowned at him with the installation of desperation amongst his face. "What do you mean!?" he yelled, furious, and confused. How did EXE get to judge who he considered a friend or not? But the rage, the rage was beautiful, and by god it was untouchable in purity, but where had it gone? He nearly tasted the relief to wash over him when he had reached out to strike Garuru down, reaping his revenge. Tororo said nothing but closed his eyes leaning on Pururu who did her best to shield him from Kururu.

Kururu wouldn't have it. He attempted to rush over to Tororo and beat the answers out of him when Zoruru's blade blocked him. "Calm down-!" Zoruru warned.

"TELL ME WHY!" Kururu raged, suffering from the extremes of his emotions. The pain in his heart matched the pain in his head. If anything could stop the screaming, if anything could stop the burning, the passion and the hatred.

"_**Then kill me....You don't deserve E.X.E.'s power. NO ONE DOES!"**_

The memory passed over his eyes like watching a television in fast motion. Kururu crumbled where he stood, everything he felt shattered. Zoruru had caught Kururu, lowering him slowly. "Hey- stay with us here!" he heard his voice call to him. Drawing away from the world, Kururu felt exhaustion take over. It was nice.

Closing his eyes, he gave up. All at once he gave up on wanting power, on wanting revenge and pride. He was tired. Tired of the struggle, and tired of the pain. He wanted it all to end. To descend into the darkness and not have to do anything. Just to be, and just to rest. It didn't seem like much to ask for. Because when Kururu realized the root of his own hypocrisy, his humanity seemed to find it's way back. That boundary that separated people from the insane, animals from the beasts that know nothing but rage and destruction.

EXE had mourned those who turned away. And when Kururu had accepted her, everyone turned away from him, trying to escape from him. And in the process he forgot who he was. Seargent Major Kururu of the Keroro Platoon: The Information Officer and Technician. Those titles seemed so simple, yet so precious. Life was so simple then, and so easy. Sure there were always limits, but, in a world of limitlessness, there was nothing but chaos. Morals, and Humanity itself kept mortals chained, and set them free. He was free from the threat of losing himself, but chained from what he was limited to. EXE had granted him the power to step beyond those borders, but he would be too unstable to do anything, and in the end, inflict nothing but pain upon himself. And what kind of life was that? These chains of simple fear, would forever bing him to sanity. But for him, he'd never again think of it as being chained up, but rather, a happy medium of mentality.

Sighing, he waited for something to destroy him. Maybe life would've been better if he didn't have that power. If he didn't accept EXE. He regretted it so horribly, so quickly, but no matter of wishing could take it away. He had become a monster, and could only wonder if there was any means of changing, or going back.

Yet time still passed. Kururu lay in the hands of his presumed enemies, waiting for a end that would never come. For time still passed, and he was still living. He didn't know if he was unconscious, or just having an inconvenient out of body experience, but either way, he woke up a few minutes later. And the pain was gone.

Garuru and his company all stood over him, wondering if he was lost to them or not, but when he came to, they seemed a bit happier. As they helped Kururu up, he wondered whether that meant they were really his friends, or at least his comrades in arms. He wondered if they really did care about him, for it seemed so. Taruru and Zoruru supported Kururu on either side of him, holding him up to face Garuru. The purple keronian smiled at him weakly, a smile that looked more like a congratulations than anything else. But for what?

"Welcome back solider. Are you ready to go home?" he asked him at last. His voice was a bit stratchy, probably form the burn and the screaming, but still firm and commanding. That was just like Garuru, never to break the persona of a true militant leader. He would never falter to be a man of honor, character, and dignity. Kururu nodded to him.

"I want to go home."

* * *

  
AN- Perhaps I've nothing to say to this other than my surprise that it's still being read. I've done nothing than what has always been me lol. Taking a year or so just to upload a story that's already finished. Thanks readers, you never cease to amaze me~ I guess I could also say something along the lines of, "Oh...oh dear...where in the world would I be without spell check....?"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The escape pod made it as far as the nearest planet where Garuru was able to get a ship from Headquarters to pick them up. When the time came, Garuru arranged for Kururu to be dropped off back at the Keroro Platoon's base. And before he knew it, pekopon was in sight.

Kururu frowned, sad that Keroro hadn't been able to prove his suspcions wrong since he had last spoken to Giroro. Had Keroro really abandoned him? Kururu didn't really want to know the anwser, but knew the inevitable when he saw it. Once they had broken pekopon's atmosphere and stopped over the Hinata household, Kururu was more than ready to leave the preceeding events to history. Waiting in the departure bay, Kururu sighed to himself. 'The end... huh?' he thought. However the doorway from the ship opened and all of the Garuru platoon stood lined up, even Tororo.

"What's this...?" Kururu asked, not expecting any sort of good bye from them.

Garuru raised his hand to his forehead; his subdorinates doing the same. They saluted him together, as one whole platoon. Garuru seemed unchanged by what had happend since they had kidnapped him. "Recovery Mission: EXE has proven to be a failure. All data containing information about the project will be disposed of as soon as we report back to headquarters." Garuru announced.

Kururu looked up even more surprised. "But doesn't that mean you all will be-"

Garuru raised up a hand to silence him. "That's not your concern." he said casually. All the other members seemed to nod in agreement. "You've done enough." he finished. "Good bye, Kururu Souchou." Kururu looked at them, a bit helpless and displeased. He never really liked goodbyes, because they always seemed so uncertain if not in a fit of rage. But even then, all goodbyes were said with the wish that things weren't so. Although reluctant to do so, Kururu straightened himself, raising a hand to his forehead, returning the salute. "Seargent Major Kururu of the Keroro Platoon...to dispatch!" he said as the departure bay door closed, and Kururu was transported back down to pekopon.

He touched down at the Hinata household. However when he looked up to see the familair building he had once called 'home' he saw the remains of what used to be the Hinata household. "What....?" he gasped not taking the time to reminsce his last sight of the household, but instead rushed inside. From the remains, he could tell a battle had taken place. Whole walls were taken out and weapons lay about abandoned. Kururu wandered through the house wondering if anyone was still there. But what he really wanted to know was what in the hell happened? He ran down to Keroro's room, sliding down the ladder and burst into the white room, panicked. "Keroro! Keroro, I'm back!" he called out. However when he opened the door, Keroro's room was a complete disater. His gunpla lay in pieces all over the room, his TV destroyed and smoldering and the rest of the room cinged and collasped. "Keroro!" he called again. The only thing that remained intact within the room was the small refrigerator that lead to thier base. A fallen book shelf that once held all of Keroro's manga had fallen over it, but once he pushed it out of the way he threw the door open and transported himself into the base.

When he jumped through, he came back out back in Keroro's room. He crashed into the bookshelf he had pushed aside, bewildered. "The connection-" he gasped, looking at the refrigerator as it stopped glowing and turned back into a regular empty refrigerator. The connection with the transport to the base was broken. Kururu ran from the room, and didn't stop until he was back on the street, at the front gate. "No....where is everyone!?" he gasped, breathing hard from all the running. Something must have attacked them. Or perhaps....

"They tried to invade pekopon without me...?" he wondered for a moment. The thought made him panic deeply, wondering just how badly he had been betrayed. However, when he remembered all the times he had assisted Keroro in taking over the Hinata household (despite them all being failures) he knew that couldn't be right. "Keroro's useless without my inventions, right...? Right...?!" he gasped, falling back against the ramins of the white fencing and sliding down to the ground.

Not knowing what to do with himself, Kururu wondered if he waited long enough, something might happen. He knew pekopon and it's areas like the back of his hand. All the research he had, there was no way he could be so helpless, at least not now. But worn from all the panic and his deepest expectations to return to the life he once knew, so easily shattered and crushed; his head was cluttered with worry. "Someone...anyone...!" he mumbled.

"Kururu....?"

Kururu looked up as soon as he heard a familiair voice. However when his eyes met the sight of Saburo, instead of delight, he felt horrible regret. Was it really Saburo? Standing Kururu couldn't believe it. "S-saburo!"

Saburo looked at him with surprise. "Kururu!" he called running to him from down the block. "Kururu! You're back!" he cheered. Saburo dropped to his knees wrapping his arms around his friend, more than happy to see him. Kururu at first didn't know what to do or say, but clinged to Saburo in desperate confusion. After their reunion, Saburo set Kururu down in front of him. Before Saburo could ask the questions first Kururu quickly repeated his original question. "What happened? Where is everyone?" he demanded again. Saburo's smile faded at his questions.

His head turned looking at the remains of the Hinata household. "You've been gone for a month"

"What?" Kururu snapped. A whole month seemed impossible. But then again, time passed differently on pekopon than compared to other planets, or in a place where there was no sunrise and sunset. Saburo nodded continuing his explanation.

"In that time, everyone did everything they could to recover you, especially Dororo and Giroro. They arrived back safely a few weeks ago, and they were able to help us locate you. However, before they were to depart to launch another attempt to recover you, Headquarters sent sentries to the base. The four of them battled for as long as they could, but in the end, everyone split up."

Kururu glared at Saburo in disbelief, his gaze then falling to the ground. They split up? Why did keron go after them? "We're disbanned...." he muttered. However, when Saburo said they had 'split up' he didn't understand what that meant exactly. Looking up at him again he tilted his head to the side. "Why are you still here?" he asked, to which Saburo smirked.

"You could call it a hunch, but I had a feeling you'd be back." he said.

Kururu shook his head. "Where are they?" Kururu demanded, hating how Saburo was completely calm about it all. He had just spent a full lasp of a month in a horrible battle against fate, all these things happening, and yet to come back to having everything he had known and somewhat loved before, destroyed to bits, and he was calm? It made him wonder how Saburo faired in comparison to him in terms of morality...

"The Hinata family moved to a different part of Japan. Nishisawa-san moved in with her father in Scotland, Koyuki-chan has outright disappeared, and your platoon has split up and gone to different parts of the world. To where in the world, I don't know." he said grimly. Kururu fell to his knees, so suddenly regretting everything he ever knew. He almost wanted to believe it was a simple act of time and chance, but he couldn't resolve to imagining such foul play as it's results. No, this was the work of Keron for the second time. If he could imagine getting down to the bottom of anything, it would be going AWOL and going after Keron, one frog against an entire planet.

Reverting his thoguhts back to the situation- he had been gone, but now he was back, and now they were gone?

Saburo lifted Kururu into his arms and started heading down the street. He DID seem calm. "Funny how fate works huh?" he said. "Sometimes people could swear that if there's a god out there, that god hates them."

Saburo's words only felt like salt to barely healing wounds. New cuts covering where the old ones were. "I'll find them..." Kururu said in a low voice.

Saburo grinned. "I know you will."

"I'll find them, and I'll make Keroro reestablish the platoon. We'll invade pekopon even if it's the last thing we do."

Saburo frowned as they turned the corner, leaving the ruins of the Hinata household behind. "They split because if they stayed together, it would only cause the ones they loved more pain." said Saburo. Kururu's ideas stopped dead at his words. "Eh...?"

"That thing you were hiding from everyone, EXE? It seems it's information was leaked. The sentries weren't the only ones looking for you. At one point, Keroro made the decision to scatter his men across earth so their enemies wouldn't go after the Hinata's anymore. It was an all out war, and Keroro turned it into a wild goose chase.... I'm sure this doesn't mean disbanment."

Kururu put his hands over his headphones. "Enough....tell me later..." he groaned, relatively hurt. Saburo was surprised by the pain in Kururu's voice.

"You've been through a lot huh?"

Kururu kept his head low, resting it on Saburo's shoulder. "Saburo, don't leave." he said. Saburo was all he had now that everyone was gone. Now that things were seemingly over and done with, he wanted nothing more than to

Saburo managed a small chuckle, "You don't have to worry, I'm not going anywhere." he reassured him. "I suppose we should find somewhere else to live though. We don't need to stay in japan only to have our enemies find us." he suggested. Kururu found a bit of hope in this when his memories ran back to a small scene that he could barely remember.

He had stood in a house that didn't look like something in japan. In fact it looked more foreign than anything. Those two girls, or rather, that girl and that woman. But Giroro was there too wasn't he? Thinking a bit harder on it, Kururu wondered what that small splurt of a memory was. He had never seen those people before, and he wanted to know more than ever who that woman was. The one that looked at him so helplessly, but happily at the same time. "We'll find somewhere else to live." he said. His hopes seemed a bit higher when Saburo stopped in front of the park.

"We can go anywhere, huh?" Saburo suggested setting Kururu down. Kururu looked up at him a nodded.

"Anywhere." he reassured him.

"But Kururu, there might come a day when Keroro brings the Platoon back." Saburo said quickly.

Kururu simply shrugged. "If my leader wishes for my assistance, then I will assist him." he said sternly. It felt good to be able to say something like that. To pledge his loyalty to his Platoon. He vaguely remembered the day him and all of the Keroro Platoon had departed from Keron to invade pekopon. The parades, the crowds, and press conferences. It all seemed like a pleasent dream so far from him. "I'll be there..." he said lowering his voice. "And I'll save them from whatever trouble they face, I'll destroy whatever stands in our way." he said proudly. Whether it be Viper, or a security system that needed hacking, Kururu would do whatever it took to invade pekopon, or even to just fulfill his orders; he would remain Keroro's loyal subdordinate, no matter where he went, or how much time passed.

Saburo nodded to him pulling out a sketch pad and his pen, drawing a replica of Kururu's saucer. "Find whatever it is you're seeking, then come find me alright?" he said. Kururu looked up at him surprised. He thought Saburo would be coming with him, but he supposed this would work as well. Hopping onto the saucer he looked at Saburo once more. "Alright, alright," Saburo laughed, drawing Kururu his white remote and a backpack. Kururu grinned, pleased with the gifts. Saburo kneeled down to him once more, "Take care of yourself alright? You can tell me about whatever happened while you were gone when you find a new home." he said smiling at him. Kururu couldn't help the bashful blush, clinging to Saburo in a final goodbye hug.

Kururu soon took to the skies over the small town of Japan. The sun was already high in the sky, and before he was a new day. The preceeding events were to become the past, and the power he had gained in the process would always be with him. Knowing this, Kururu decided that he would never again allow himself to be consumed by that monster. He could never use EXE's power ever again. "And when my time comes..." he tried to say, trying to think of something to let die what had once lived. However he got the feeling that perhaps...his time might never come. Somehow, through some unforseen feeling, Kururu believed that, his hourglass of life had been shattered. No, perhaps his time WOULD never come.

The wind rushed past Kururu as he left that island of Japan behind, in search of the woman he had seen- now becoming his only lead to further any sort of destiny- and the path of his life he had caught a glimpse of. He seemed a lot better off than before, now knowing that his Platoon didn't abandon him afterall, but was crushed by the wheel of fate that had sealed his own. He would find that woman, and he'd find Giroro, and whomever that girl was, and bring Saburo to live with him. And perhaps Keroro will bring back the Platoon, and then one day pekopon will be theirs. Whatever path lay ahead of him, nothing could match what he had already been through. For what layed before him was a new life, and a new adventure. The end of his destiny, was really just the beginning of a new chapter.

* * *

  
AN- I suppose I can appreciate the traditional ending, but as this story, which in all honesty, is nothing more than what my brain farts out in the midst of sleep deprivation, it became the birth of a two year long private role play with a artist friend of mine who loved my story. My story thus served it's purpose to me, for my readers, I hope you simply enjoyed it. I can say that I definitely forgot, in the long year it took me to finally post up the last two chapters, how much fun it had been to write this story. That's all this story is for me, just something fun. So if you enjoyed it, I'll be glad, if not, it's alright.

Will there be a sequel? There is one, but I can say in my years of procrastination, Destiny: Gouchou may never see the light of day. All it really is, is this story but from Giroro's point of view, however, I'll admit it reveals the battle that took place on Pekopon in Kururu's absence, as well as whatever had become of Keroro during this amount of time and more information about Keron's new Commander. I've only completed one chapter of that, and I haven't touched it during my elongated Haitus' that I love to take...

Anyway, if you made it this far and had fun along the way, perhaps were sparked with ideas of your own, what have you, good. Feel free to drop me e-mails or comments if you want, and above all, Thanks for reading.


End file.
